


Fangan Ronpa: Forest Nightmare

by Oclarina



Series: Believe it or Not [1]
Category: Dangan Ronpa, Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Original Work, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Canon Typical Violence, F/F, F/M, Fangan Ronpa, Illustrated, M/M, Multi, Other, Suicide mention, cult mentions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-06
Updated: 2016-04-29
Packaged: 2018-02-07 16:27:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 35
Words: 144,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1905825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oclarina/pseuds/Oclarina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>16 Students wake up in a mysterious woods, with no idea how they got there.They're trying to escape, but can we be sure any of them will survive this forest nightmare?<br/>Currently in: Afterword<br/>Series can be read in any order.<br/><a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/FanFic/BelieveItOrNot">TV Tropes</a></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: A dreamy woods

**Author's Note:**

> I am very sorry for any gramatical errors, I did try to edit it but grammar isn't my forte. The Narrator will change voices but for now don't worry about it.

Hope's Peak Private Academy, a government owned school building, responsible for making heroes in the world out of anyone with talent. Only the very best get accepted, nothing less will do. Then why were you about to enter the front gate?

You don't remember You don't remember You don't remember You don't remember You don’t remember You don't remember,

You wake up. What is this place, who are these people, why is your heart beating so fast, it's like you just woke up from a nightmare you just can't remember and it's still haunting you.

You don't remember.

You look around you, is this a room? You hope it's a room, it would be comforting to know even the slightest bit of your surroundings. You look to your left. You know so much more about your surroundings than you thought you did.

To your left, next to you, is your twin sister, Ajiyama Masuyo. She's wearing her favorite beige sweater and green blouse. The cute one with the greenish yellow trim. You'd always tell her how good it would look with her dark green skirt, and she'd finally taken the advice, still self-conscious though she wore beige leggings underneath, they looked new, and they went really well with the outfit. Even her shoes looked nice, freshly polished, this must be a grand occasion, or else one happened earlier and she's still wearing them.

She's still asleep, you better not wake her, you have very different sleep schedules. She's a morning person, and only nice when it's day, and you don't know what time it is.

You prefer the night. It's probably night.

Careful, as to not disturb her you get up slowly, are you the first awake? It seems very likely, at least you can try to realize where you are before anyone starts to bug you. You don't like very many people, but Masuyo has always been there for you whenever you were both awake.

The room you are in is most definitely a room. If only you knew what room it was. The windows show a clear view of the outside, and it appears to be early morning. How strange, you don't feel tired at all like you usually would, well sometimes at this hour you wouldn't, but only if you had stayed up, not if you had just woken up. How strange.

Even stranger is the layout of this room, it's large and empty, but it looks like it used to hold things. Scratches from chairs shuffling still linger on the floor and there is a stage, but the curtains are drawn closed. In the back there are tables pushed together, and chairs stacked on top, that would be where the scratches are from you suppose. There are also two doors in the back leading to other rooms, but they are closed. Around the room other people are scattered on the floor, all sleeping. You count them, and there are fifteen, no wait, sixteen, you should count yourself.

As you are looking at the stage, trying to see behind the curtain, you hear a noise behind you. It sounds almost like a snort, and then a yawn. Kind of strange behavior for the boy you turn to see. Who is he, you try to ask yourself, but it makes your head hurt even trying to remember, but he looks familiar to you.

Far too familiar.

You brush it off, he probably knows just as little about the situation as you do. He doesn't look like an evil mastermind, more like a stumbling puppy dog as he tries to get up off the ground. It doesn't look like he's used to walking and you wonder why. Maybe he's still half asleep, he looks it.

As soon as he sees you he's staring at you, his eyes bore into your soul and it's terrifying. How could they look like a dog’s and then like this in such a short amount of time. After he looks you down his expression softens again, and he approaches you, it's almost _still_ terrifying.

He wears a white shirt, and, is that a sweater vest? Ew, at least the blue color goes nice with his red tie, but it's strange that his pants match the vest so well, and the dorky red converse to the tie. His hair looks weird, overly styled, but chunky, definitely not worth the effort, you never touch your hair and you look fine, you think. You guess it looks good on him, but you don't know why you're making such an exception.

He speaks in what is obviously a fake British accent, but you won't push it, it's not important.

"Who are you?" he asks, feigning innocence, you saw that stare. He still has an eerie vibe to him, no matter how you look at it.

"Me?" You try to copy his innocence, it doesn't work as well on you. "My name is Ajiyama Tsuneo, but what's yours?"

"Surely you've heard of me?" He almost seems offended, but not quite, his entire demeanor seems fake. "Hiniwa masanori, the famous croquet player?"

"Nope, sorry, I don't hold much value to crocket" You don't bother faking now, it's too early for this shit, he doesn't deserve any extra points for sticking loops in the backyard and hitting golf balls with an elongated hammer. You're not quite sure what croquet is.

"Ah well, doesn't matter much, does it?" His fake accent fails to hide his irritation. "Anyways, where do you think we are?"

"How am I supposed to know, I just woke up," You are so done with this guy, normally you'd try to slip away and avoid talking to people like this but there’s nowhere to go this time.

"Oh, did you, now?" he looks to the side. You can't handle this prick, and as soon as you see something moving you head over to it.

That was a bad decision. As soon as he stood up you felt shorter than you ever had. It's not like you were short, your height was slightly above average, but he was huge, like a miniature hulk, with the muscle to match. He was terrifying, but not as much as that Hiniwa guy. His white button up and jeans made him seem a bit too casual, but the boots didn't match that. He looked like he was going to work somewhere, but where was there to work here?

"Ugnh," he wasn't very good at waking up either. "What is this, where am I?" He was talking to himself, you didn't interfere. "Whoa, man, my head hurts so much," He puts his hand on you in the process of getting up, but quickly removes it once he realizes. "Oops, sorry, my bad." He apologizes and offers a hand up for whatever reason. "What? don't you know what a handshake is, man?" You take his hand and shake it lightly, but then he almost shakes your arm off. "Haha, it's okay, I wouldn't blame you if you're a little brain dead right now, I am too." He seems to shrug off every word he says, maybe he's a little timid, but won't show it. "My name is Oshima Yutaka by the way, Super High School Level Contractor."

"Super High School Level, what do you mean?" you almost forgot your own name. "Oh, and it's Ajiyama Tsuneo."

"What do you mean, what does it mean? You go to Hope's Peak, right? This has got to be some sort of initiation or somethin'."

"I'm pretty sure, that's not what this is." You say. Hiniwa follows with something like an affirmation, but you ignore it.

"That's good then!" Oshima laughs and it seems to shake the room down to the floorboards. “I would have pummeled someone stupid enough to make a girl pass out for a school prank." This one seems much nicer than the last one, you like him better. He punches his fist into the palm of his other hand twice to accentuate what he said, but it sounds more like clapping.

A girl across the room wakes up and snaps into attention. A pole hangs from the arm she is using to salute. The tip is red, like her glasses. You can't even see her pupils through those, wow. She wears what looks like a marching band uniform, a hat with a stupid-looking feather, a uniform jacket matching in appearance, shorts, and boots, all in matching colors. The colors only make up a little bit for the rest though.

"Yes, sir!" she says as she stands there, eyes vacant and staring straight forward, towards the sound of the clapping, in other words, Oshima. "Soushin Ritsu, reporting!" It seems militaristic, how she responds, are marching bands really that strict?

"Soushin-san?" You ask, tentatively, she seems tense, even though she just woke up. "Are you okay?"

She turns towards you, following your movements whenever you make noise as you progress across the room. "Of course I am, but who am I reporting to, this voice doesn't sound familiar."

"It's Ajiyama Tsuneo, but the one who made the clapping noise was Oshima-san, over there." You point, but she doesn't look at him.

"Oh, I'm sorry" she loses her tension. "I could have sworn that was my band director clapping, that's why I woke up so quickly. Anyways, like I said, it's Soushin Ritsu, Super High School Level Marching Band Member." She says that phrase again, and it sends chills down your spine. Why does it sound so familiar? "You'll have to forgive me for not noticing" she says "You may have been able to tell by now, but I'm quite visually impaired, legally blind actually, can't see more than an inch in front of my face." She laughs as if it's a joke. "You haven't seen my baton anywhere have you? It's actually my walking stick, and I kinda need it to get around." You ask if it's the thing on her arm and she laughs again as she shakes it down so the strap is around her wrist.

Her laughing must have been too loud, it wakes another person up, and they start by yawning incessantly, then by humming a tune similar to those in anime openings or video games, it's catchy, and it gets stuck in your head immediately. Dang it.

The girl who yawned got up slowly, but cleaner than either of the guys, and probably yourself too. It was impossible to see how Soushin got up, she did it so quickly. After yawning some more she mumbles something about being loud and starts to sit down and fall asleep again.

"Wait!" you say before she can quite get there. She stands up and gain and smooths out her teal hoodie, you can see rumples from the green shirt underneath though. She's wearing pajama pants, with a space invaders pattern on them, and her shoes are converse converted into slippers by taking off the strings and sewing in elastic. The pink strings from her hoodie are tied in a bow, and she has a teal streak in her blonde hair. It matches her eyes.

"Whaduyuuwah" she mumbles, still half asleep.

"Excuse me, what did you say?" you ask, confused, she is mumbling, it's fair.

Her entire voice changes, to a reluctantly enunciating deeper voice, but only slightly. "I said, what do you want?"

"Oh, I just" you stutter, she seems angrier than before, could it be she's even less of a morning person than you are? "I thought maybe you'd like to introduce yourself, or ask where we are or something?"

"My name is Miyano Mamiko, and I don't care where we are, I've got a huge gig tomorrow and they want me to wear real clothes." she groans.

"Why wouldn't you wear real clothes?" she's not wearing them right now, is this a normal thing for her?

"I'm a Super High School Level Voice Actor, voice actors don't wear real clothes, at least not normally, but sometimes we need to, to get jobs and stuff." She's waking up slowly, and she seems much more casual now. "I guess I can't go back to bed now, huh?"

"Probably not." Hiniwa pipes up. God, you wish he'd shut up.

"Well then, if I'm not sleeping, no one else is." Miyano suddenly lets out a loud shout, one far too large for someone of her size, but it wakes everyone up successfully. "Now, then, we can all properly introduce ourselves."

Masuyo is strangely the last to wake up, but as soon as she does, she looks around and locks onto the sight of you, and stares. You walk quickly around those still groggy to get to her side. With all these new people at once, you'll both feel better close to each other, you know it.

She holds your hand tightly, and everyone else around the room finishes getting up and makes their way into a vague kind of circle shape. Miyano is across from you and Masuyo, approximately, she seems to be the leader, and her voice has changed to convey it. It's kind of scary now actually.

"Alright you punks!" she’s shouting, you try not to cringe. "None of us know where we are or why we are here, so the least we can do is all introduce ourselves so we know who we're with!" She closes her eyes and points in a random direction, then opens them again. "You! You're up first!"

A quiet, yet confident girl speaks up. "Alright, me then? My name is Kawada Suzume, and I was admitted into Hope's Peak as a Super High School Level Genetic Specialist." Her words carry authority and purpose, despite sounding so small. She wears a white button up under a blue jean skirt that has silly looking straps to help hold it up. It looks good on her though, as did her white socks and adorable shoes.

"Okay then!" Miyano is talking again. "Onto the next person! We'll go clockwise from now on!" Wait a second, you're next to Kawada, does that mean you're next, oh, you guess it does okay. Why don't you introduce yourself.

"Hey, I'm Ajiyama Tsuneo," you try to sound casual, you fail, probably. "I'm not even quite sure what a Super High School Level is, sooo,..." Masuyo immediately jumps in at your pause to save the day, she's literally the best person you know.

"Haha, sorry about my dumb kid brother," she says.

"I'm older than you" you whisper. Kawada giggles.

"Anyways, I'm Ajiyama Masuyo, and I'm sure even though neither of us remember what our talents are, we'll both have a wonderful time here with all of you guys!" She's always so happy, how does she do it?

"Ah, thank you two!" Miyano's sentiment is too loud to be appreciated as something other than part of another command. "Then, who's next!"

A small cute ~~boy~~ ??? speaks up next to Masuyo. "Yo, my name is Keina Sora, and I honestly don't care how fucking cissexist ya'll are but just use xe/xyr/xem pronouns for me, alright, I'll talk to ya later if you're too goddamn stupid to understand. Oh, and also, I'm a Super High School Level Rights Activist." Xe (???) has numerous facial piercings, but the punk rock look xe seems to be trying to achieve is undermined by completely unshredded clothing and long rainbow socks under xyr skirt. You don't know much about nonbinary things and stuff, so you're just really confused. Xe looks cute anyways.

Probably by now everybody would know just to continue to the next person, and everyone probably did, but it took a few seconds for the next in line to speak.

"Oh wait, haha, is it my turn?" Soushin laughs through her words. "Sorry, I'm kinda blind, my bad." She jokingly waves her hand in front of her eyes. "So, yeah, my name is Soushin Ritsu, and I'm a Super High School Level Marching Band Member!" she punctuates all of her sentences with laughs.

As they should, the introductions continue straight to the next person.

"Haah, yeah, um, I'm Kaisui Sadao, and I'm a Super High School Level Illustrator, I guess" He’s nervous, and tense in this social situation, he might even be worse off than you are, without someone familiar next to him. His clothes seem nervous too, somehow. His dark blue shirt and orange button up are rumpled, and his shorts don't fit him all the way. The beach flip flops look out of place, and over all he’s just too casual.

The next is a stoic girl, and she speaks in an unnervingly monotone voice, she is also unnervingly tall, and her unnervingly tall hair, in the shape of a perfect chocolate soft serve, doesn't help. You’re afraid it'll get caught in one of the slowly turning ceiling fans. "You may call me whatever you like, but the name I was given at birth was Odori Ayumi, and they call me a Super High School Level Track and Field." Everything about her is scary, but you still see a guy across the room ogling at her, wow, that's kind of,... she wears a simple school uniform, and she probably can't help the smallness of it on her. At least her shoes are the right size.

Next is a, frankly, exceedingly attractive guy, in the strangest clothing. You make a mental note to keep Masuyo away from him, just in case. "The name Goddess Madoka has blessed me with is Shiroju Katsuro, and I am the one and only Super High School Level Musketeer." He ends his statement with a pose and a dazzling smile, which, god damn it, even draws you in, despite how straight you thought you were, do you even still like girls? Maybe you could ask Keina for advice on this. At least the clothing distracts you from it a little. You're not sure where he even bought it from, but he's wearing a white cape, over a probably custom vest, over a tealish green button up. The only things normal about it are the black dress pants and dress shoes. Seriously, where did he buy that.

Miyano is next, and she changes her tone to something calmer for her actual introduction. "Hi, my name is Miyano Mamiko, and I'm the Super High School Level Voice Actor." Probably just as a joke she then mimicks the voice of Shiroju. "I hope to have a wonderful time with you all." It's spot on, wow.

A kind of timid girl speaks up next. "H-hi, my name is Matsuda Hana, Super High School Level T-time Travel Theorist" Her demeanor suddenly changes. "I'm looking forward to spending this time with all of you fuckin losers! HA HA HA" it switches back again. "Sorry, uh, yeah." She wears what might be a lab coat that was really dirty, or it might be a tan trench coat, either way it probably smells, it has worn holes in it, and it’s old. Her plaid red skinny jeans almost hurt the eye, but as long as you look above it, you’re fine. Her navy t-shirt calms the eyes after the retinas almost burnt out at the pants, and her hair matches, almost, perfectly? She also wears red half rim glasses, but they’re so thin they only draw attention to her eyes. She also wears what looks like tweed converse. Why are so many people wearing converse?

Hiniwa’s next. You don't even bother paying attention to his introduction, something about croquet player or something gross like that, what a prick.

You zone back in after you were sure Hiniwa had stopped talking, and then pay close attention to the next one. "Hello, to all of you, my name is Shibou Arata, and I am a Super High School Level Therapist, I am looking forward to helping all of you relax in this tense situation." His voice is calming, as is his entire person. He wears a purple suit that seems a little juvenile, with the pastel colored buttons, and the pink bear head pattern on his tie, not to mention the pin, the thing’s shaped exactly like a cartoon white bear head, wow. He seems kinda feminine, you wonder if he's actually with Keina, he does keep staring at xem, you can't help but notice.

A similarly short and childish girl follows. "Hello, all, you may call me Emiline Grangerford, or simply Emiline. I am a Super High School Level Robotics Engieneer." she wears a purple color scheme, purple eyes matches the purple tinted white shirt, matches the purple skirt she wore, matches the purple flower bows in her hair, which in fact is one of the only two things that isn't a shade of purple. Her hair and her corset, which even then have purple fasteners.

The next guy was one you don't ever want to talk to. His eyes keep drifting to the chests of some of the, um, more endowed girls of the class, and you wouldn't be surprised if he was trying to look up Odori's skirt. He does seem to be slouching a little more than he should be. "Oh, yeah, right" he says once he stops for a second and realizes he’s supposed to speak. "I'm Hensou Tetsuya, right, and I'm the Super High School Level Parachutist."

The currently more antagonist demeanor of Matsuda speaks up. "You mean you're specialty is jumping out of planes? Is that even a talent?"

He ignores her. He only wears three, or maybe four things; a full body bright red jumpsuit, red tinted goggles (on top of his head, not over his eyes), and a pair of two black boots.

The conversation moves on quickly, to a girl Hensou seems particularly fond of. She speaks in a way similar to Odori, but more refined, and warmer. "My name is Otsuka Toshiko, daughter to the Togami Corporation, and Super High School Level Translator."

Hensou tries to speak "Wait, but aren't you-" but she shoots him a glare that seemed like it could have killed millions in a single moment if put to the right use. She wears a simple white button up, with a fuscia sweater over it, and knee length khakis. Khakis? She sounds hideous. But she isn't, she’s beautiful, and she looks more like a model than an intellectual, good thing she could be both.

We've almost come full circle, Oshima’s next, and he’s next to Kawada. "Yo! I'm Oshima Yutaka, the Super High School Level Contractor, very nice to meet you all!" His voice shakes the room still, it wasn't particularly loud like he was shouting, it was just full.

You all think you’re done with the introductions then, but a voice comes ringing from somewhere behind the curtain onstage. "Upupupupu! Well then, now that you're all so well aquanted with each other, let me explain a bit of your situation!" The statement from the eerily cheery voice brings excitement to some eyes, and dread to others. All at once, the curtains open, and behind them stood, a teddy bear?

The bear moves like a doll. In appearance, it could be friendly looking, if not for half of its body being colored black, contrasting with the white side. Also on the black side, what would be an eye is replaced with a red scar shape which is very slightly luminescent.

"Hello, students! My name is monokuma! And I am your headmaster in this lovely institution!" The voice still makes you sick to your stomach, it’s just, too happy, way too happy.

"Institution?" asks someone from the crowd, you don't notice who. "Do you mean this is a school? Is this Hope's Peak?"

"Oh no, nothing like that!" The bear answers. "You all are students of Hope's Peak, but that's nowhere near where you are right now!"

"Well then where are we?!"

"Oh calm, down, patience! I'm getting to it, so just hold all questions to the end! I'd hate to have to punish one of you right away! Actually, no, I can't stop you brats from asking questions, so just do it, get it over with. So, this is Monokuma national forest reservation, and Hope's Peak has decided to send you on a retreat here to calm your nerves down before the school year actually starts!"

"But when will it start?" asks Emiline.

"Ohoho! That's the thing! The situation at Hope's Peak has been... compromised, so, you'll just have to stay at the retreat your entire lives!" He delivers the statement in such a calm way, it takes you a second to realize what he just said.

"Wait, what?!" this time it’s you bursting out. "we can't stay here our whole lives, we have things to do!"

"Well then, well then," monokuma's response is instant. "There is one way you can get out early,..."

"Well?! Out with it then!"

"All you have to do is... Murder one of your fellow classmates!" the entire environment we thought we were in changes suddenly, everything is darker, scarier. "Do that and you're free as a bird! Go anywhere you like!" Everyone is in shock. Would anyone really murder in order to get out? Is it worth it, I mean, you'd only seen one room so far, maybe this was a really nice place? He did say it was a resort.

"Upupupupu, did I strike a nerve? Sorry, but that's just how it is. You all can either stay here your entire lives, or kill in order to escape." He keeps laughing, and it’s making things even more uncomfortable. "Either way someone will be spending the rest of their life here!" He keeps laughing, he just keeps on laughing and laughing, and you can’t take it.

You don't remember what happens next. Someone, you don't know who, charged onto monobear. Maybe it was you. Maybe it was someone else, you always had a bad memory. There was a beeping noise and Emiline told the assaulter to throw it, and when they did,...

One of the ceiling fans comes crashing down. The monokuma doll had exploded at just the right spot, and it falls. It falls onto Masuyo. Or maybe she avoids it, but she is hurt. That's all you remember. Monokuma quickly passes out e-handbooks to everyone there, they were supposed to be important, but they look a little silly, they were all colored. You manage to pay attention long enough for the bastard to explain something though, you’re still worried about Masuyo.

"Okay sooo..." he still speaks in an irritatingly childlish voice, you wish he'd stop. "For this resort trip of mutual killing, I've created a special new rule." You don't know what he meant, all of this was new, this whole situation was a sick new thing he came up with. "This time around you all are playing in teams! You may have noticed the coloring on your handbook, those of you with matching colors are teamed up! The teams are all of two, one boy, one girl, very simple." You see hatred plainly flashing across Keina's eyes. Xe almost speaks, but then xe doesn't. "Hurry up and get into your pairs, later on I may explain the implications of this, but now all you gotta know is that you'll be rooming together!" You look at your and masuyo's handbooks, you're teamed up, thank god. You can't imagine what you'd do without her. Speaking of which,...

"Oy, Monokuma!" you shout, unaware of anything around you, that doesn't matter right now. "Can we go yet?" You need to find something to help Masuyo, anything really.

"Upupu, I suppose so, just don't cause any trouble, alright?" His voice still hasn't changed and you hate it more by the second. Without a word you leave the room in a hurry, carrying Masuyo. She's conscious, but she might not be soon, she needs a place to get better, or something.

As soon as you step out of the room you breathe a sigh of relief. There's an infirmary right next door, and it doesn't seem to be locked, but you kick the door open anyways. Inside are only basic medical supplies, but you can help Masuyo with this you think. You definitely hope so.

You find a few other people followed you in. You didn't even care if anyone else noticed while you were there, but now you realize you probably couldn't have done it by yourself. A lot of people are in the room, but only three step forward to speak. Shibou, Odori, and Kawada are there, a little too close you think at first, until they explain themselves.

"I have had to deal with numerous injuries on the track before" says Odori, in a slight more comforting monotone, maybe she does care. "I might be able to help her a little bit."

"And I can't tell you how many times me and my brothers would get hurt on the farm!" Kawada says. "I am their older sister, I wouldn't have been much of one if I couldn't patch them up."

"And I have told you that I am a therapist." Shibou states. "It's kind of my job to help people heal and get better."

You manage to mutter out a quick "thank you" and leave them to deal with her. You may have only just met the people, but there isn't very much in options of who to trust. Besides, they can help Masuyo right now much better than you can, probably. You leave to your cabin, which is quaint, and lie down to sleep yourself, without much thought. The tune Miyano sang as she got up is still stuck in your head, and you fall asleep to it.

END PROLOGUE

16 Students remain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tsuneo really is a jerk when he's tired but I promise he'll get nicer later on, he's just very sleepy. The twins are definitely going to have a hard time getting through this whole event. Also, leave suggestions in the comments for the freetime events next chapter, and check out the characters at the tumblr page at http://mori-no-nightmare.tumblr.com/


	2. Chapter One: Green Thumb, Red Handed: Daily Life- Day One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is from Ajiyama Masuyo's viewpoint, and is in first person view, don't get confused!

The last thing I remembered was the fan crashing down. I'm not even sure whether or not it hit me, I might have blacked out before any sort of impact. I hoped it was all a dream, the murder game, whatever happened to Hope's Peak, all of these strange people with "Super High School Levels".

  
But it wasn't.

  
It took all I could manage to stay cheerful when I woke up and saw her next to me. I almost screamed, maybe I did, it would've made sense with what she said to me next.

  
"Oh, Ajiyama-san! You're awake! Are you okay?" Kawada Suzume was sitting in a chair next to me. I was lying down, but I had just woken up, and I was still drowsy.

  
"I'm not entirely sure" I said. I wasn't really, there wasn't any pain anywhere but nothing felt right. Dysphoria had overcome me, despite my nearly perfect health.

  
"Well, when we checked you out, Odori-san told us that you only sustained minor injury, how lucky, right?" She seemed desperate for me to be okay, but doubting that I was. "Oh, but you should probably rest more, you might have gotten a concussion. It's funny how you got it though, the fan barely nicked your ankle but in jumping away from it you hit your head while falling, funny, huh?"

  
"Yes, I suppose so." I laughed briefly, but got up all at once, and felt dizzy soon after. "I haven't got time for resting though, you know what kind of situation we're in. I've got to go help Tsuneo, I can't imagine how he's dealing with this."

  
"Are you really sure about that, you don't look so steady, maybe I should help you get around some, I'm sure Ajiyama-kun can wait?" She pleaded with me to stay, but even if I had, I probably would have broken the rule about sleeping outside of the dorms. I left despite her warnings, and when I opened the door my worst fears were realized. We really were in the forest, we really weren't somewhere safe. This was truly a nightmare. I quickly headed off to find Tsuneo, and realized I didn't know any bit of the layout of this place, so I opened up my e-handbook to find a map.

  
It turned out that the e-handbook was touch screen, how convenient. I could have flipped through all the unlocked maps but I really only needed the one for the central area right now. I would have had a lot of exploring to do, if it weren't for most of the areas being locked, but there still was a lot to cover. I would have to call all the others together to do searches later.  
The main building had its own set of maps, and each "forest path" did too. The trees were so dense that I couldn't go anywhere the land wasn't cleared without a lot of difficulty, and gates that seemed to be built in as an afterthought blocked off the entrances to each path. In the middle of what would be a giant common area there was a small lake, perfect for swimming in, it would be great to invite everybody together and have a swimming party to ease the tension sometime. Off of the main common was an unlocked path, which had a building on each side and led to the team cabins. On the northern side of the path was laundry, pretty important if we were to be living in a forest for an extended time. On the southern side was, a store? Inside there were a lot of things you could buy, from general stuff to the most specific of things. There was also a random vending machine that would pop out some items if you had coins to put in it, but I didn't have any coins yet, maybe I would find some later. The small clearing after the path was cool though, in the center was a huge fire pit, presumed for bonfires, and each house had a sign on it with the name of the team.

  
I suddenly realized I had no idea what team me or Tsuneo were on.

  
By luck, someone else passed by, I wasn't sure, but I thought it was Hiniwa Masanori.

  
"Um, excuse me, Hiniwa-san?" I asked, and he turned towards me. I got the name right, good.

  
"Yes, Ajiyama-san? I am glad you are feeling well." He answered in a fake British accent, I didn't notice that before.

  
"Yes, I am, but I seem to have forgotten something, or maybe I was never told," I didn't actually remember being told about a team thing, I just inferred. With the signs and everything it was hard not to. "It's just, what team am I on, I'd hate to intrude on someone else's home."

  
"Oh, is that all?" he acts as if it's nothing, but I was sure it was. "You are on the green team, with Ajiyama Tsuneo-san."

  
"Thank you so much," I hoped that ended the conversation well, and I hurried off quickly to the green team's cabin. There was a key left in the door, Tsuneo might have left it for me, or maybe he just forgot it. It was still kind of idiotic either way, someone could have just come in and murdered him. Regardless, I used it to open the door and pocketed it afterwards. The key chain had a plaque with two sides engraved. One side had the name of the place, "Green Team Cabin", and the other "Ajiyama Masuyo", my name. Tsuneo probably had left it there for me. Once I found the beds I had found my goal. Tsuneo was there sleeping, he was probably tired from being awake at day so I left him while I explored this place I'd be living in until I could escape. That's right, no one would die, we would escape on our own. We can't lose to despair, we can't.

  
But the cabin was nice, despite the completely green decorations. There was a really nice bathroom, it had both a shower and a bathtub, and two sinks, one on each side of the room. One of the sinks had a smaller counter though, and I definitely wasn't planning to stick Tsuneo with that one, what. There was also a toilet of course; it wouldn't have been a very good bathroom without it. Down the hall from the bathroom was the main part of the house, and straight in front of the door was a kitchenette. There was a fridge and a sink, along with a microwave. Perfect for leftovers and microwave meals if we ever were to find any. Maybe we could've gotten a water boiler or a griddle in here, then I could cook something real. Still, nothing wrong with what was here.

  
There were a lot of windows, four of them just in this small room. The walls almost seemed completely covered. All you could see was trees though, not too much of a view. There were also two small screens on either side of a small staircase going up to the beds. There was another screen in between the two beds. Each had a side table and a desk nearby. And on the wall across from my bed there were two side by side closets. Opening them up, I found they held numerous copies of our own clothes. No new outfits to wear, that's no fun, but it'll do well to have more than one set. All of my shoes were shined, and there was polish nearby in case they lost their sheen. How thoughtful of the psychopath who put us in here.  
Well, since I had finished exploring this place, I figured it was time to wake up Tsuneo. I threw open the curtains on the window by his bed and let all the light in. I then proceeded to shake him the rest of the way awake.

  
"Come on, Tsuneo, wake up already! You can't sleep all day."

  
"Ugggggh, why can't I? It's not like there's anything to do."

  
"Of course there is, there's plenty to do! Let's go exploring, let’s actually feed ourselves! I'm sure we can find some food!"

  
At this point he first opened his eyes, and all I could notice was shock in them before he sat up and hugged me tight. I had forgotten I had almost died from his point of view, no wonder he was worried.

  
"I'm so glad you're okay." He said, and I knew he meant it, but now wasn't the time for sentimentality. "Well then, why don't we go exploring? And afterwards you can make me a wonderful dinner; you're so good at that."

  
"But you always wake up so late that you eat it as breakfast!" The mood lightened quickly, and I was glad for it.

  
"That doesn't matter, it still tastes great! And I always love having breakfast for dinner too." He sighed, and worry crossed his eyes again. "But I guess that will change now, can't exactly sleep and leave myself exposed."

  
"You were leaving yourself exposed when you left my key in the lock!" I waved it in front of his face. "Nobody can enter if you actually lock the door, you know."

  
"Especially not with the rule about the locked doors I guess. That was stupid of me, but I wanted you to be able to get in, right?"

  
"Oh!" I shouted, but I didn't mean to. "I haven't looked at the rules yet, at all! I could have broken them by now, that would be awful!"

  
"Well, let’s look at the rules then, it shouldn't be too hard."

  
We both got out our handbooks, and I noticed his was a slightly darker green color than mine. They both worked though, and when they turned on they showed our names in the same brilliant greens as the casings. Underneath the map option was one for "regulations" and when selected showed each rule one by one.

  
"<Regulations>

  
1- All students are to live together in the forest resort for the rest of their lives. Exceptions are only made when the requirements for graduation are fulfilled.

  
2- "Nighttime" happens between 10 pm and 7 am. Certain areas are off limits at this time, and entry will be punished, so be careful! The water in the cabins is also shut off during this time.

  
3- Sleeping anywhere other than in the cabins is also prohibited, and good reason for punishment.

  
4- With minimal restrictions, you can explore all of the woods wherever you want.

  
5- Boys cannot enter any girl's bathrooms, and vice versa! The bathrooms in the cabins and in the dining hall however are gender neutral and anyone can use them!

  
6- Violence against the headmaster is strictly prohibited.

  
7- Destruction of resort property is prohibited; this includes, but is not limited to, breaking surveillance cameras, and breaking through locked doors or gates.

  
8- Anyone who kills another student and is not discovered will have fulfilled the requirements for graduation and can leave the resort.

  
9- Additional rules may be added at the headmaster's digression."

  
"So those are the rules then." I said. "Nope, don't think I've broken any yet, I would suggest going and trying to break them all but I don't want to face whatever this 'punishment' is."

  
"Yeah," Tsuneo agreed. "Breaking the rules when you don't know the price for no reason but breaking them is a bad idea."

  
"Plus I don't plan on killing anyone any time soon!" I declared, and I got up to strike a heroic pose. "No one is going to die on my watch!"

  
It looked like Tsuneo was going to say something, but he was interrupted by the television screens that hung on the wall in both the bedroom and the kitchenette, not to mention various other places outside the house.

  
"Ahem, testing, testing, mike check, mike check!" It was monokuma again; I could never forget that voice. It reminded me of the cartoons I watched as a kid, only much more nefarious. "Well, I guess since lazy Ajiyama Masuyo is finally up and running again I can finally continue my exposition on the details of the resort life you all are to be living here!" I did take insult to him calling me lazy, but he was a stuffed bear controlled by a psychopathic maniac, it's not like he was accustomed to being nice. "Please meet at the dining hall at once, anyone not present will be punished!" and with that the broadcast cut off. I looked to Tsuneo.

  
"I guess we better go then." He sighed and got up. "Like you said, we don't know what the punishment is, and it'd be best not to face it." Moving to the closet, he changed hoodies for no good reason and then headed out the door. I followed suit behind. We both quickly made our way to the dining hall, as did everyone else apparently, because we were the last ones there. People had pulled chairs out to sit in, and someone was nice enough to set out two extras for us, and we were able to sit down next to each other soon after we arrived. I noticed that the ceiling fan that had fell was already cleared out of the way; I don't know how long I had slept.

  
So not long after that, the curtains drew open, and monokuma appeared again, what did we expect. I braced myself for his stupid voice but it still wasn't enough.

  
"Why, hello there everyone! Nice to see those smiling faces in the audience!" Not a single person was smiling, not even me, and I was known for being cheery. "Well, as you know, I am monokuma! And I'm here to continue my explanation, after you all so rudely interrupted with your ceiling fan accident!"

  
"You were the one who caused it to fall." Odori pointed out. "Do not draw fault away from yourself."

  
"Well if it weren't for that pesky Otsuka brat I wouldn't have had to explode in the first place to teach you guys a lesson!" Ah, so it was Otsuka who had attacked monokuma. I wouldn't have thought her the type to do that, she seemed so refined. "ANYWAYS" monokuma sounded very annoyed. "I hope I can finally continue now. Now, where did I leave you guys, I was explaining teams right? Oh well I'll start there anyways. You'll all just have to deal with it!" Yes, he was definitely angry. "So all of you guys are split into teams of two, all with color names. Apparently just telling you to look at the colors of your eHandbooks wasn't enough, so I have to go through and list all the teams out for you." He pretended to feel dejected. "So, let’s start, with..." he paused, thinking of who to start off with, probably. He then pointed at Otsuka. "You! The one who was stupid enough to attack me! Otsuka Toshiko, you're paired up with Hensou Tetsuya, on the Gold Team!" There was visible pain in Otsuka's eyes, probably at the thought of sharing a place with the one she had already grown to despise. "Alright then, well now, well now, next is Kawada Suzume, you're with Oshima Yutaka on the Brown Team!" It was only then that you noticed both of them wore white button ups with jean bottoms and boots. Probably a perfect pair. "Then there's Kaisui Sadao and Odori Ayumi together on the Black Team!"

  
"Isn't that kind of racist to put her on the black team?" Kaisui asks. Keina mumbles under his breath, annoyed.

  
"Hey! I did these teams up especially for you guys based solely on eye color!" Monokuma shouted at Kaisui for his ignorance. "I'm not taking any other colors into consideration, I'll have you know. Anyways, the next team is Soushin Ritsu and Keina Sora on the White Team!"It was strange to say you did it based on eye color and then chose two people with blue and pink eyes to be on the white team. Was monokuma stupid, or? "After those two there's the purple team, the two midgets, Shibou Arata and Emiline Grangerford." He pronounced Emiline's name in a jeering way, almost making fun of it. And I was pretty sure neither of them were midgets, Shibou was only a few inches shorter than me, and although that was short, neither he nor Emiline were short enough to be called midgets. "And my favorite walking doctor who references, the stupid anglophiles, Matsuda Hana and Hiniwa Masanori! The Blue Team! I hope you two can practice fixing his horrible accent together, fuckin’ bbc weebs." Now that it had been pointed out, the two did look like they belonged together. I had never seen this "dr who" show but I didn't plan on ever watching it. I had seen enough pictures to piece together that they both probably liked the show though. Wasn't it about time travel? That matches Matsuda's talent, funny. "And now, some more fuckin’ weebs! Miyano Mamiko and Shiroju Katsuro representing the Teal Team!" Monokuma was clapping and dancing as he said the final one. "And last, as well as probably least, the talentless losers, and fraternal twins, Ajiyama Tsuneo and Ajiyama Masuyo on the Green Team!" That's right, we were the green team, Hiniwa had told me earlier, how did he know again?

  
"And since you finally bothered to learn who your teammates are, I can explain how this will affect the rules! Once this meeting is over I will adjust them accordingly. So, you know how you can only leave if you murder someone, right?" He seemed to be trying to put a positive spin on something that was doubtfully going to remain that way. "Well, there is one other way to get out! You see, with your teammates, if you murder someone, you have the choice of taking along two different people! You can either invite the roommate of the one you killed, or your own roommate, but only one of those two! Upupupupu, this will allow for all sorts of accomplices and alliances this time! So be super duper careful!" He laughed again and then disappeared. It all felt like a daze. Everyone's eHandbooks buzzed upon receiving the new rule and as I went to check it I saw that there was a messaging application for texting other people at the resort, that might prove useful. We might even be able to call for help if we used it, but that would take work that I couldn't do. It'd have to be a team effort. I then remembered to actually check the new rule instead of staring off and thinking of something.

  
"<Regulations>

  
9- Once the requirements for graduation are met, the graduating party may bring along one other student with them, but only the roommate of the person murdered, or their own roommate."

  
It seemed like a simple enough rule if you could get past the killing part. Nobody would ever need to use it though, right?  
People had started to get ready and leave when I had finished reading the rule, but remembering my plans to explore I called them back in and asked everyone to stay. I went and stood in front of the stage but not on it, and luckily everyone calmed down to listen.

  
"Okay!" I started. "Obviously this is a very tense situation, and we're all probably some degree of scared, but that's no excuse to just sit around! Were all in a place that I would think is new to us, we ought to explore it so we can get a better idea of it, maps can't give us everything!" I smiled, and no one really smiled back, except Tsuneo, the ends of his mouth slipped up in such a small way, though that didn't matter. "I propose that we all go and find what we can and then come back and tell everyone about it." I looked at the clock to see the time, wait, was it really already four, but we had gotten here in the morning; I must have slept a long time. "Alright, so unless anyone objects we all go see things and then meet back up here at six and have dinner!" I could have sworn I heard crickets in that hall it was so quiet.

  
"I don't see any problem with it." Surprisingly, it was Ritsu, not Tsuneo who supported me on it first. Wait, was that a pun. "It means I don't have to cook, and with someone else's help, I can get a better idea of how to get around here. Pretty easy to lose track of where you are if all you see is big blobs of brown and green." She laughed and smiled. Her agreement caused other people to actually think about it, and soon they had all agreed.

  
"So is that all you have to say?" Shibou asked. "Because I have something else to propose, an unofficial rule you might say."  
"I'm pretty sure I'm done, until we start talking about exploring again." I answered.

  
"Well then, may I suggest we don't go out at night? It would make things a lot safer. Should someone decide to murder, even though I do hope no one does, nighttime would be a prime time to do so, as the chance of a witness is less." He seemed calm about the idea of murder. His face never really changed from a comfortable smile. "We obviously cannot make it an official rule, but an agreement between us that we'll just have to trust will hold."

  
"I still can't see anything wrong with these ideas." Ritsu spoke up again.

  
"Are you seriously just making blind jokes?" Keina asked.

  
"Yes." Her answer was short, and the most serious thing I had heard her say so far. "But I seriously do agree with these things, even if I'm joking about them." Again her statements swayed everyone to agree, and once again I was in charge to explain the exploring.

  
"Okay, so we only have one floor and the center area to explore, right?" I asked. People nodded in agreement. "Sooo, I think probably, we could stay in our teams and just go explore what we want and hope we cover everything?" People agreed and joined up with their team members, some more reluctant than others. Slowly we all left the dining hall to go to places, but Tsuneo, Kawada, and Oshima stayed behind.

  
"I thought we might look at the kitchen and bathroom here, see what all is there." Kawada explained. "I can cook pretty well, but only with the right equipment, I don't think I could do much with the sink and microwave we have in the cabin."

  
"I gotta check out what food we got here." Oshima added. "Always good to know what you have available to eat when you're on a job, and I don't think here is much different."

  
Tsuneo and I left them to explore the dining hall, they could probably handle it.

  
"So, where do you want to go?" Tsuneo asked me. There were plenty of places to go, the store, one of the rooms in the main building but my answer was simple.

  
"I want to see it all!" I beamed. "It's not too big an area, and we're gonna look at all of it!"

  
"Oh, is that so, well we better hurry." He had decided to amuse me, but I was sure we could actually do it.

  
"We have almost two hours! That's plenty time!" I played along, but we started moving soon. "Let’s start with the things nearby, maybe the Infirmary?" So we went there, it was only a few yards, really not a long distance. Emiline and Shibou were inside.

  
"I have been here before," Shibou started to speak. "But I just wanted to check and see what was here besides what i looked at last time. I thought there might be something I'm familiar with, but it's all simple stuff."

  
"It seems that way," Emiline continued the subject. "But I found some packets of blood, probably used for transfusions in the fridge over there." She points. "And among the medicines are also types of poisons, probably put there by monokuma."

  
"Well yeah," said Shibou. "But besides that it's just a normal school infirmary. Nothing special, can't do any types of relaxation therapy here." He seemed disappointed by the stock they had. I decided that when we went to the store later I would look for something for him. I found a monokuma coin in an empty trash can, I could use the dispenser now.

  
We bid adieu to Emiline and Shibou, and headed to the computer lab nearby. In passing I noticed that the stairs, presumably to the next floor, were surrounded by gates, and could not be reached. We found Kaisui and Odori in the computer lab. Kaisui seemed excited.

  
"Look at all the programs they have on the computers!" He was saying. "They've all got Photoshop CS6; whoever got these must be really rich! I can't wait to get my tablet in here and draw on them!"

  
Odori actually had broken her neutral expression for once, and was smiling at Kaisui's good mood. "I am glad he could find something to make him happy here, even if I'll have to hear about it for the entire time we are here."

  
I checked out one of the computers for myself. It did have a lot of things on it, including Photoshop, as well as other art, video editing, music, and word processing programs. They didn't look cheap. There was also a box of flash drives with our names on it, so we could keep track of our own files.

  
We left the computer lab and headed away from the main building. On our way to the other available structures, we passed by the small lake, which ended up actually being called "small lake" as a name. Not a very inventive name if you asked me.  Soushin and Keina were by small lake though, and xe was trying to help her figure out the area. Xe seemed to be tripping a lot.

  
"So um, there's this giant lake here, you can probably see the blue right? that's what it is." Xe also seemed nervous, despite the variety of protests against ableism xe had been in, xe probably hadn't actually had to help a blind person before, much less one that can still see blobs.

  
"You don't have to baby me, you know." She said. "I can tell that there's water there, just explain the things to me that are actually more interesting than simple shapes." She pointed to one of the gates in front of the forest paths. "What's that? The green area looks different over there."

  
"That's one of the gates to an area we can't enter yet." Xe explained. "It's pretty simple, so I don't think you're missing out on any cool art designs." They looked pretty busy just trying to understand how each other work, you decided to leave them alone, there wasn't much to see here anyways. ;]

  
We headed to the Laundry next. It was a simple room, eight washers, eight driers, a few sinks and a line to dry things by. Plenty of ways to clean your clothes. There were also two members of the gold team arguing.

  
"I can't believe you, you can't go through other people's laundry regardless of who they are!" Otsuka shouted at Hensou.  
"Come on, how much harm will a little peek do, it's not like I'll touch it or anything!" He tried to defend himself from whatever he was doing wrong.

  
"Oh, I wouldn't put it past you to try!" She continued to shout. "There's no reason to be such a creep about women's underwear!" It made sense that she was mad, but not that he had provided a reason for her to be. She really was right, but I decided to leave, so Tsuneo wouldn't get upset about the screaming.

  
We quickly moved across to the store. Miyano and Shiroju were inside, perusing the products, but Miyano quickly looked up when we entered.

  
"Oh, hey guys!!" she was also loud, but her manner of speaking was more benevolent than angry. "Look at all the cool stuff they had here, I hope I can find enough coins to get something, I’m calling dibs on the monokuma backpack, so don't steal it!"  
"Why would you want to get that?" Tsuneo asked. "Isn't he like, the one who told us to kill each other?"

  
"That doesn't change the fact that he's adorable." She pursed her lips in annoyance. "Is there anything you want? I'll try not to buy it, but there is a lot of stuff here."

  
"Indeed" Shiroju adds. "I have even managed to find figurines of my fellow magi poised in battle, I plan to save up and get all of the Sayaka Miki’s." He then added as an afterthought, "And a few Madoka's, maybe."

  
"He showed me them!" Miyano adds. "I like the yellow girl, because her name is almost as cool as mine, just needs a little 'ko' after it!" She seems a little excited at all the cool stuff. "She also uses muskets, just like Shiroju, isn't that awesome!" The last part was more of a statement than a question, but I moved to look at some of the things too. There were a lot of instant and microwave meals that you could buy, as well as some really cool candy kits that I would definitely have to try. I then remembered that I had found a single coin, and headed to the machine. It carried a resemblance to monokuma and was called the "monomono machine". It held a lot of small capsules with things inside. Somewhat unluckily, I got a package of colorful hair ties. My hair was much too short to even bother with them, but I still pocketed it to possibly give as a gift to someone else. Still, to even out the bad luck the machine dropped another capsule, this time with what seemed to be a "kid's first acupuncture kit.", I couldn't imagine who would actually use it, but it might come in handy I told myself. I looked at the rest of the products, but nothing came of interest. The figurines Shiroju had his eyes on did look pretty cool.

  
We left the store, and even though I had already seen them, we headed to the cabins to do a bit more exploring before the two hours were up, it seemed to be going by quicker than expected. There we found Hiniwa, knocking on the door to the, blue team cabin? Wasn't that his place? I went up to ask him what was wrong.

  
"She's locked herself in the place and won't come out." He explained. "I mean Matsuda-san of course."

  
"Why don't you go in to get her?" I asked him.

  
"I do have my own key, yes, but it would be rude to just drag her out, right?" He sighed. "I'm sure she'll get over her fear of this place sometime, we all agreed not to murder, she's just got to believe it."

  
"You can't just believe in people's words." Tsuneo pointed out. "Just because someone says one thing doesn't mean that they plan to keep their word. She could be plotting to murder you right now." Tsuneo always got angrier when he was around Hiniwa, I wondered why.

  
"I'm sure she's not" I said. "Matsuda-san seems nice to me, even if she is a bit shy sometimes."

  
"Either way, she's got to come out before six, and it's my job to get her there." Hiniwa sounded resigned, but he went back to hammering at the door trying to get Matsuda out.

  
We still had a little bit of time before six, but I decided we should just go back to the dining hall, I could help Kawada make something. We did get there a while early, and I took a peek at the bathroom, it looked similar to the quality of the ones in the cabins, but there was only a single sink and a toilet, obviously more of a restroom for public use. Now that I thought of it, I didn't know why monokuma mentioned guy's and girl's bathrooms, there aren't any in the unlocked areas. Maybe there would be once more areas were unlocked. I headed into the kitchen, and it looked glorious in comparison to the small kitchenettes we had in the cabins. There was a six-burner over range, a double oven, two French door fridges with sliding freezers, so much counter and storage space, and it was all so fully stocked with a lot of food.

  
"This entire place is great, isn't it?" Kawada asked. "We should have no problem making great food here." I agreed, and we set off to make dinner. There were all sorts of options, but it was the first night so we decided to make sukiyaki so everyone could sit around the table and get to know each other. Oshima and Tsuneo (But mostly Oshima) helped us to move the tables together into one table and put a few cooking pans onto the table. They were electric, so we plugged them in to start heating up while we prepared the food to be cooked. We decided to use both beef and pork, since they were both there, and it would give people options, not to mention all of the vegetables. By the time we were all ready, most of the people had already gathered back in the hall, only Hiniwa and Matsuda were missing. They reluctantly showed up a few minutes late and sat at the only two chairs left at the table. By this time people had already started cooking on the pans, so we all just ate and had a lovely dinner talking and laughing. Only at the end did I remember to ask about the exploration.

  
"Oh, right, that." Oshima said. "Well there wasn't much that I got a look at, me and Kawada just stayed here the entire time."  
"But that's okay because it probably helped you make that amazing food, right?" Otsuka adds, her mouth still full of said food.  
"I guess so, but I really just wanted a look at the kitchen, it's fully stocked, and monokuma popped up to tell me it gets restocked every day so we don't have to worry." Kawada laughs. "We could have feasts of sukiyaki every day!"

  
"There's also a door behind that back curtain on the stage, but monokuma wouldn't let me get close to it." Oshima adds. "It must be something important."

  
"I'm sure we'll find out later." Hiniwa added. "Also, I'm very sorry, but I did not get the chance to do any exploring, as Matsuda-san refused to leave our cabin." He shot a glare at her.

  
"It's not m-my fault you all are murderers!" She said, still very superstitious. "I was just tryin’ to fucking protect myself, not like I need to see this boring shit stain of a place anyways!" The drastic changing between so nervous and so brash was kind of shocking, still, and I recoiled at it.

  
Otsuka reluctantly speaks up next. "I didn't do much looking around either, I was too busy dealing with this creep." She gestured to Hensou. "The laundry room is nice, plenty of options to clean things, not too spectacular though. Be careful with your underwear though, you never know when someone might try to mess with it." She continued to glare at him for a while.  
"Hey!" is all Hensou can get out before the reporting progresses.

  
"Have any of you guys seen the computer lab?" Kaisui asked. "Besides Odori-san of course," no one spoke up. "It's amazing!" he continued. "Each of the computers must have at least two thousand dollars worth of programs on it! Including an up to date version of Photoshop and Microsoft office!"

  
"What he says is true" said Odori. "I do not know very much about computers and such, but it seems to me that these are not the cheap ones that you may find in a normal public school."

  
"Arata and I checked out the infirmary." Emiline says. I have to remind myself that Arata is Shibou's given name. Is he really okay with her being so informal? "It is mostly standard, aside from a few things."

  
"There's poison mixed in with the medicines," Shibou said. "You'll have to be careful not to grab the wrong thing."

  
"Keina had a lovely time showing me nature and things." Soushin mused, she almost sounded annoyed or sarcastic, I couldn't tell which. "Did you know that the green things are trees? wow!" Keina didn't say anything, but he looked embarrassed.

  
"Oh, can I talk now?!" Miyano still seemed excited. "Shiroju and I looked at the store! It's all really cool!!! There's everything there, from food to toys, to really really weird things!!!! I'm calling the monokuma backpack, so no one else can buy it, alright?!!!!" It was almost scary how hyped up she was. Did she eat any of the candy they had there or something?

  
"It is a rather cool store." Shiroju agrees. "I would suggest shopping there if you cannot find something you'd like to eat in the kitchen, there is a lot of ramen, and things we can make with what we have in the houses."

  
"Is that all of us then that have shared?" I asked. Everyone seemed to agree. "Well then, we can all leave now, unless you're still hungry for some reason." A lot of people left, including me. Without realizing it, I had spent almost three hours talking and eating, and I wanted a bath before the nighttime announcement came and the water shut off. Tsuneo would just have to deal.

  
END DAY 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The dish they eat at dinner is Sukiyaki, closer to Kansai style, and you can look it up on google, it'll give you an okay idea of what it is. Also if you've ever watched Princess Jellyfish, that's what they're eating in the second episode, yup.


	3. Chapter One: Green Thumb, Red Handed: Daily life- Day Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up, I went on a family trip and then I just didn't have the motivation to write for a little while. I apologize. I might maybe possibly not let it happen again.

When I woke up I almost didn't remember where I was. At first it felt like a normal day, but then the reality of the situation sunk in. Any happiness that came from waking up so bright and early, even before the morning announcement, it was stolen from me. I got up and changed into my day clothes, and I waited around a bit for the announcement to come. Even though it was morning I didn't want to break the nighttime agreement, and I needed the water to brush my teeth.

I haven't always hated my tendency to wake up early, but it had become very inconvenient to wake up almost two hours earlier than everyone else and not have anything to do. I really would have to find some sort of hobby to deal with from the store or somewhere. I had taken a basket from the laundry room and Tsuneo had taken the cue that we could put our dirty clothing there and I would wash it. There was enough new food in the kitchenette alone to make a great breakfast, but I couldn't do that without water. There might have been more to do if I could leave early. But I had agreed, I wouldn't leave my house during nighttime.

I tried to go back to sleep but I was too tense. In the end I got out a notebook, one of the ones I had bought for no specific reason was there, and it was empty. There were also pens, so I started to write. I might as well do something with my time. That's what you're reading, if someone is reading this. I doubt someone would want to read something I'd written, but I guess if you're trying to figure the events of this place, this will help. I'll do my best to relay them as they happened.

After a while of writing, the monitors in the rooms buzzed to life, and Tsuneo finally showed signs of waking up. I still had to shake him awake again, and I saw in his eyes the same dread as I had gotten when I woke up. It was sad, seeing him like this; I never would have wanted this for him. Never.

Leaving him to get ready, I brushed my teeth, and I left our cabin towards the dining hall for breakfast. I don't think we ever agreed to meet there for meals, but nearly everyone was there, and Kawada had made food for everyone again. Breakfast passed by silently, and the atmosphere was tense. I met Kawada in the kitchen afterwards and started helping her with dishes while we talked.

"I really don't like this place." She said quietly, in that special way she could that it still got to you, and her words bore into my soul.

"I'm not particularly fond of it either," I responded. "But for now it looks like we're stuck here, there's nowhere else to go."

"You're right about that." She sighed heavily, and it felt as if the weight of the word hung on her shoulders. "Last night, Oshima-kun and I went out to look at the trees, and they really are so tightly packed and so strongly built that you'd have to be really tiny and flexible to get through them. I don't know how they don't all die, unless there's some secret to how they get enough water."

"That's right, um, only the best trees would live if they were competing for limited resources, right?" I thought I had learned that in school somewhere, but I didn't actually remember learning it.

"You're right, most of them should have died, unless someone altered them so they didn't need as much water, or there's heavy irrigation going through the ground, but both seem unlikely." She looked frustrated while scrubbing the dishes, I was afraid she would break one. "You know, that is what I specialize in, plant alteration. And I honestly don't think it possible to change the trees that much."

"Well I’m sure it doesn't matter much, as long as the trees aren't dying, right?" Even in this situation I couldn't help but try to be cheery.

"I guess so, but all of the plants here worry me." She had decided to change the subject, it seemed like, and she was more upbeat, if only by a little. "Hey, what do you think of Oshima-kun?"

"Oshima? He seems nice I guess, really strong for sure." I didn't know why she was asking but I would try to tell her best I could. "It looks like he tries to act strong and tough, but he's really a big softie to me, but maybe you should ask Tsuneo? He's much better at reading people than I am."

"You mean Ajiyama-kun? Oh no, I couldn't. I'm not the best at talking to guys, besides all my little brothers." She laughed.

"You talk about your family a lot, they're probably worried about you, but I hope they're alright."

"I hope they're alright too, but it's always in the back of my mind that without me they might not be able to continue growing good crops without me." She seemed scared again, had I brought up a bad subject? "I used to have a few older brothers too, but they all starved before I could fix the plants."

"You mean, they actually starved to death?" I was scared too now.

"Yes, I almost did too, but my family has done everything they could for me, and here I am." She smiled, she had been through so much more than me, but she could still smile just as much, it was admirable. "You know I'm not just good at the genetic side of things, I also am really good at farming in general." She pretended to flex her muscles. "Before we could afford any machinery, I was our plow horse." And she still laughed.

"That sounds hard," I tried to laugh too, but it sounded so much less genuine. "I could never do something like that, especially if I was starving."

"But the Kawada family is growing so much now!" She was bright. "Not only do we have enough food to feed ourselves, all eight of us, but we're exporting food to countries all over the world! I'm set to inherit the company we've made from it, because I was the one who made it possible."

"I almost can't imagine you being some sort of corporate executive, but that sounds really cool! I really hope you can get out of here and do that." It was true I did. "I'm sure we'll all get out of here, and no one will die."

"I'm glad you can have so much optimism, Ajiyama-san." she turned grave and the change was so shocking I took a step back. "But I really don't think that's possible, someone will die here."

We finished washing the dishes in silence.

She almost left, but before she could, I remembered something. "Oh, Kawada-san!" I called. "I have something for you!" I reached into my pocket and took out the hair ties. "I think you could really use these more than me."

She smiled, but it felt inauthentic. "Thank you, I'll try to make more use of them than you could." Then she just left, and I was alone in the kitchen.

I left the dining hall, and I left the silence. I had been looking the past few days, and had found a few monokuma coins, I was going to try them out, so I headed to the store.

It was completely empty, and it felt dead inside. I don't think any place couldn't in this situation. But even Miyano's vibrance from yesterday had already worn out. I approached the monomono machine and took out the coins I had, four of them. I inserted them one by one, and this time I only got four things. One of them was actually one of the figurines Shiroju had wanted, I thought, I left it in the capsule so I wouldn't hurt it. I got sunscreen, SPF 100, I don't think I'd need it, the sun here didn't hurt so much that I needed that level of protection. Also sunglasses. They looked cool, but not the kind I would wear. The last thing I got was a flower shaped hair bow that also looked mechanical, like it was made of gears. That seemed really cool, but still something I couldn't use.

I left the store, and it still felt as dead as when I had entered. I then headed back to the dining hall for lunch. Everyone was there again. We had lunch, but I left the dishes to someone else, I didn't think I could stand another conversation with Kawada that would end so horribly. I checked up with Tsuneo, but he was doing fine, so I went to spend more time with someone else.

A couple people were running around a makeshift track that was basically just a loop in the plaza around small lake. Odori was still sprinting it, amazing, but Keina was taking a break. Xe looked really tired.

"Hey," I said, approaching xem.

"Hey," xe said back, still breathing kind of heavily.

"You okay? You look really tired." He did, and much more tired than you would think.

"I'm fine, I just made the mistake of trying to keep up with Odori-san." He was taking deep breaths though, he knew what to do. "She isn't called the Super High School Level Track and Field for nothing." Xe was still wearing xyr normal clothes, except xe had switched out xyr flats for running shoes. I wondered where xe got them, probably the store.

"She is pretty fast, isn't she?"

"Yeah, but she also has really good stamina. Not to mention strength, she's never won the shot put, but she's placed many times."

"Have you been talking with her? It seems like you know a lot about her already."

"I guess, but I've really just been trying to avoid Soushin-san." Xe almost laughed. "For all my experience, I can't deal with her the way I can with other people."

"I guess you're not used to it? Her being blind I mean, she's so upbeat all the time, and you expect her to be kind of sad and depressed about it."

"I mean, I guess so. Losing your sight would be awful, but she was born that way I think, and for her it's just a part of life." Xe looked down to xyr legs and sighed. "Losing anything is hard, but if you never had it, it wouldn't be a huge deal."

"I guess not." I saw that the skin on his cheeks was getting redder, but it didn't look like blush. "Oh, you look like you burn easily, is that right?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Just a lucky guess," I got out the sunscreen and handed it to xem. "Here, take this, you need it more than me."

"Thanks! I'm sure this'll help me run longer too without getting overheated." Xe smiled, and I could have sworn it was the first time I'd seen xem give more than a smirk.

I got up and left xem to go back to running with Odori. It was getting late, and I just didn't feel good letting Kawada do all the cooking again. She was really good at it, but she didn't have to. When I got there though, not even she was there. The entire place was empty. Even the tables and chairs were gone. Tsuneo came in through the door, but he did it quietly so it scared me when he came up behind me.

"Hey, Masuyo," he said.

"AAAAHHHH OH MY GOD" I squealed. "Oh, it's just you Tsuneo, you shouldn't have snuck up on me, I was afraid you were going to murder me."

"No one's going to murder anyone, right? That's what you told me."

"Well I think so, but you can never be too careful." I thought about what Kawada had said to me.

"They just sent me in to check if anyone was in here, they moved all the tables outside since it was nice out, we're having dinner out there."

"Oh, so that's why everything is gone." I sighed. "Okay then, let’s go outside." We did. Everyone was outside, kind of in a secluded area behind the dining hall. They had a grill out there, and Kawada was grilling steaks. Oshima was helping her and they were close. While everyone was still waiting for the food to be done cooking I got their attention.

"Hey everyone, sorry to take away your time again. I just had a few more things to bring up? Things I forgot about last time." I was speaking nervously, I didn't know why. Kawada and Oshima weren't completely paying attention, they seemed to be talking a lot to each other, I hoped they still got the message.

"Go ahead and say it then, I wanna eat already." By now Otsuka had broken her rough exterior, and it showed, she seemed a lot more carefree now.

"I just thought, since we're doing it anyways, we could eat together every day, if it's not much trouble." I thought for a second then I added. "And maybe someone other than Kawada can do the cooking for once?"

"Really, I'm fine, I love to cook." She said, I didn't believe her, but at least she was paying attention.

"Oh, and one more thing!" My idea of a party at small lake suddenly came back to me. "Maybe tomorrow night, we could have a party at small lake, just a small get together, but we could all swim together." I smiled, hoping people could agree to what I was suggesting.

"I don't swim." Keina said. All hope was lost, I was sure of it, there was no chance of the party. "But I'd love to hang out with everyone, it'd definitely be a good time." That was unexpected.

"I definitely don't mind seeing a bunch of cute girls in swimsuits!" Hensou said. Otsuka jabbed him with her elbow so hard that he doubled over and started tearing up.

"I'll even take care of it that nobody else has to worry about him if they swim." She said.

"I do not see any problem with trying to have a good time together." Even Odori agreed. It was settled then. We were going to have a party tomorrow night at small lake. Tomorrow would be a great day then.

We all enjoyed ourselves at dinner, and the steak was amazing. Maybe Kawada had raised cattle at some point, so she knew how to do it just right. It was amazing nonetheless, and not a drop was left on anybody's plates. We were all content, all very happy, but then _he_ had to ruin it.

"Upupupu, I hope you're all having a good time, but why are you all out here instead of the dining hall?" Monokuma had shown up just to ruin our time.

"It was nice out." Kaisui explained. "You can't blame us for enjoying good weather."

"Oh well, I guess it can't be helped." Monokuma's voice was sickening, and it always would be. "But you must know, I worked really hard to prepare some gifts for all of you, they're in the computer lab." He stopped and thought for a moment. "Attendance is mandatory, you all have to be there in fifteen minutes, or you'll face the punishment." he then left, not to be seen.

Slowly everyone left to the lab, and I was one of the last to leave. I walked slowly, but Tsuneo was with me, I had to pretend to be happy, for him. We walked in silence though, and even such a short distance seemed infinitely long a journey. The environment in the computer lab was frigid, everyone seemed terrifyed, I was worried for all of them.

Once all sixteen of us were there, monokuma popped up again, to explain these "gifts" for us.

"Okay, well now, well now, you all are here right, one, two, sixteen!" He didn't even bother to pretend to count all of us. "You all know you're allowed to use the computer lab right? The only one I’ve actually seen going in and out of this place is Kaisui." I hated that bear, I did. "Well, for those of you who don't know, there are these storage devices, one for each of you, and I've taken the liberty of saving some videos on each of them for you. Now, each of you take yours, take some headphones, and take a computer. If any of you need help setting it up your dear headmaster monokuma is here to help you." He laughed, but we all helped each other instead of daring to ask for his.

Each flash drive only had one file on it, a single video. We all managed to open it up around the same time, each tentatively, with fear unimaginable, but real. I was unsure of anyone else’s, but the video I had was just a blank black screen with a single terrifying phrase played on the audio clearly as anything I had ever heard.

"Ajiyama Tsuneo is actually Super High School Level Despair." It shocked me, and I turned towards Tsuneo, he seemed just as shocked as I. I tried to speak, but before I could say anything monokuma spoke up again.

"Oh, there's just one rule I forgot to add, but don't worry, it only applies until someone is murdered. Teammates cannot share their videos with each other, whatsoever!" This ruined everything, if I couldn't ask Tsuneo, then... and if he couldn't talk with me about his, I wasn't sure, but I was scared. The eHandbooks buzzed with the new addition, I didn't bother to check it, I fled the room, and I locked myself in my cabin. Others acted more drastically, some screamed, some panicked, we were all terrified. I tried to sleep, but I couldn't. I laid in bed awake, until Tsuneo showed up, and I don't think he slept either. It was a horrible night, and it would never end. This nightmare would never end.

END DAY 2


	4. Chapter One: Green Thumb, Red Handed: Daily Life- Day Three/Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no excuse for this chapter being so short except that there was no reason to make it long, it would just drag on if I had.

I did not wake up until the morning announcement this time. I was still shocked and tired from yesterday, when I did. I drearily headed to the dining hall, still half asleep. When I got there I could not believe my eyes. In the window to the kitchen pancakes were piled high, covering any view of the kitchen inside. I went through the door instead. Matsuda was alone in there, working hard and probably fruitlessly to make dozens of dozens of pancakes. They all looked amazing, but who would eat them.

"Matsuda-san?" I asked, she seemed so intent in her work she didn't notice me coming in, but she turned around when I spoke.

"Oh, what is it, do you need something?" she asked, I wasn't sure which personality she was acting like right now, but it seemed to be the timid one.

"Did you make, all of these pancakes by yourself?" She hadn't stopped; she had four griddle pans set up and was making four at a time.

"I got up at four a.m. just to make them all for everyone." She laughed, and she didn't sound sane, I was afraid, to be honest. "I didn't want Kawada-san to have to make food for everyone again."

"But you really didn't have to make so many,"

"Oh, well I guess we'll have some extra then." People had started to come into the dining hall, and I could hear their amazement at the pancakes as well. "There are never too many pancakes, right, Ajiyama-san?" She wasn't stable, she was shaking, and tears were in her eyes, but she was smiling really wide. I couldn't say I wasn't plain terrified. Is it possible her video had been even worse than mine? But what could be worse than the possible betrayal of your twin brother?

"I think you should stop though." I said, and she let down the spatulas after she finished off the pancakes still in the pan. I turned off the heat for her. "Just, come with us to breakfast, alright?"

"Alright, I guess I did make too many." She sighed, and her expression changed to one a bit more normal. We both made our way to the dining hall, where many people stood, confused.

"It's alright, Matsuda-san just went a little overboard making pancakes for everyone." I explained, people didn't lose any feel of worry in their eyes, we were all still terrified from last night. A few people looked less worried than others, but the worry was still there. Though no one had more fear in their eyes than me or Matsuda, I'd think. Kawada was a close third, though so was Tsuneo.

"You all, can, um, e-eat some, if you like." she laughed, but it was still so heavy. "It's not like there's any shortage, so help yourselves."

Breakfast passed in silence, whenever people tried to start a conversation, there were a few mumbled answers but it died out soon. By luck, enough of the pancakes got eaten that we could fit all the rest in the freezer for later, but no one spoke. I hoped the mood would lighten in time for the party.

We all left, as always, one by one, each to their own preferred safe place. I didn't have one, I liked to be around other people, that was where I felt the most safe. I set off in search to find someone.

I did find Shibou in the Infirmary. He seemed calmer than I was.

"Hey, Shibou, do you mind if I stay and talk to you a while?" I asked.

"Not at all, you can stay." He answered without care, maybe he didn't.

"Do you, do you mind if I talk to you about my motive?" I needed to talk to someone about it, if not Tsuneo as I would have liked.

"Only if I can talk about mine as well, surely that's okay?" I agreed, and we sat talking on one of the beds.

"It's just, I'm not sure what to think of mine, and I can't talk to Tsuneo about it because of that stupid rule."

"I suppose that would be a problem, but really, what's wrong with talking to someone else, surely you have friends other than your brother?"

"Normally I guess talking to someone else would be just as good, it's just, what mine was."

"Well what was it, if it's so important. I assume yours was also a statement recorded with a black background as the visual?"

"It was. Just one terrifying statement." I took a breath; I didn't know if I could say it, but Shibou was a therapist, he could help. "It said 'Ajiyama Tsuneo is actually Super High School Level Despair.' I just don't know what to make of it."

"Well, you could say a Super High School Level is why someone comes to Hope's Peak, and going to Hope's Peak is why you're here, so maybe, it's trying to tell you, Despair is the reason Ajiyama-kun is here?"

"But that whole phrase, it just sounds familiar to me, but not in a good way."

"I'm sure it's not true though, I wouldn't worry." He smiles, and I couldn't help but feel my mood lighten.

"Wait though, what was yours?"

"Mine, it was nothing, silly really, compared to yours."

"Still, what is it?"

"'The Patients of Shibou Arata have completely lost their sanity, and are terrorizing the streets.'" He laughs. "It even sounds stupid, I can't believe it."

"But if it were true, wouldn't that be really serious?"

"It's true, I do have a lot of patients, with compromised mental states, but honestly I don't think they could do much more than commit suicide if they were to lose it, and whereas that would be tragic, it's happened before, and we must move on."

"You're being so calm about this, I can't understand it."

"It's a lot of experience, not the first time I've gone through this."

"I'm sorry that you've had to do it before." I almost turned to leave, but he called me back.

"One more thing, Ajiyama-san. If you ever need it, I can help you, even if I lack the materials for anything other than verbal therapy, my romantic therapy has never failed at making people feel better."

"OH!" I remembered things so suddenly those days; I could never really keep my thoughts straight otherwise. "When I first used the monomono machine at the store, this came out." I took the "kid's first acupuncture kit" out of my pocket and handed it to him. "I know it's probably nothing close to what you're used to, but I think you'd use it more than I would."

"Thank you, Ajiyama." He dropped the honorific, maybe we got closer. "I'll try to find some use for it, that you couldn't."

I left the infirmary again, and I decided to start setting up for the party, it was my idea, I should do the work. It was a lake party, what do people even do at lake parties? I thought they might eat, so I started gathering up snacks. Crackers and cheese is a snack right? I hoped so. I also took some of the pancakes and added that to my collection. I even tried to make a sushi platter, but I ended up trashing that, it didn't end up well. I got Hiniwa to help me move a table nearer to the lake and I set things up there. Hoping that no one would mess with it, I left to my cabin to change.

I found out that alongside the numerous copies of clothing I found earlier there were also a single bathing suit for each person in the cabin, simple, but color coordinated with the team that person was on. Mine, of course, was green. A simple one piece, but it looked okay. After changing, I threw on one of Tsuneo's hoodies over it, he wouldn't mind, and if he did, that was his problem. I needed a cover up, it was cold in just a swimsuit.

I headed to small lake and when I got there, I wasn't alone. Tsuneo stood there. I couldn't remember how long it had been since I had actually talked to him. The motive monokuma gave to us had drawn us apart, and we couldn't even discuss it. We still didn't say anymore than a casual greeting, and we each went on to do our own things.

I don't know when he had done it but Tsuneo had changed into a pair of plain green swimtrunks, appropriate for a lake party, I would think. He eyed the hoodie I had taken with something between contempt and appreciation, but he didn't comment.

People showed up little by little, and I found out monokuma hadn't given everyone bathing suits as simple as mine or Tsuneo's. Otsuka's looked more like lingerie than a real swimsuit, and I could tell Hensou was having trouble not staring in an effort to not get hit. It was inevitable though when Keina and Soushin showed up. The only difference in what Keina was wearing from xyr normal clothes was that xe had taken the black undershirt off, and xe was using some of the sunscreen I gave xem, but Soushin's adornment was shockingly different at the least.

"How did you even get that on, it looks like it would be really difficult." Someone asked, I didn't remember who.

"Oh, Sora helped me!" she smiled and laughed. She was so informal with xem, I was glad someone could be calm in this situation.

"Whooaaa! Lucky!" Hensou said. Otsuka punched him so hard he fell into the lake. "Hey! Come on in, the water's fine!"

People were having fun, which was exciting. I stayed out of the water for the most part, despite the tension still between us; I didn't want to ruin Tsuneo's hoodie.

In the end everyone showed up to have a good time. Kawada and Oshima showed up quite a bit later than everyone else, and he was blushing a lot, but we were all there. The party was fun, and all my food got eaten, so I went to the kitchen to get more, but I noticed that the meat tenderizer was gone, I didn't really need it, but it looked weird with it not where it belonged. I returned to the party and didn't leave again until late that night after everyone had helped clean up.

Tsuneo and I walked back together in silence, just, uncomfortable silence. Silence only broke the next morning.

END DAY 3

I woke up early the next morning and wrote until the morning announcement came. We all went to breakfast as usual and helped ourselves to rewarmed pancakes and other foods, but something was wrong. Three people were missing. Kaisui, Kawada, and Oshima. Kawada and Oshima showed up eventually and he was blushing again, but Kaisui never came.

He never would.

They sent me out to look for him, I don't know why they chose me, but I went. I searched everywhere, but the place I finally found him was the laundry room.

I screamed, others came running, an announcement played over all the monitors of the school.

"A body has been discovered! After a brief period of investigation the class trial will commence!" Monokuma's voice sickened me, but there was a lot more to worry about now.

Kaisui was dead.

End Chapter 1 Daily Life.

15 Students remain.


	5. Chapter One: Green Thumb, Red Handed: Deadly Life

Kaisui doesn't show up for breakfast.

Masuyo is sent out to search for him.

Masuyo screams. You know it's her, you would never be able to miss that voice. Without thought you jump and start running to where the scream came from. Others are taking your lead and running too, you don't know why, you don't notice. Once you reach Masuyo in the laundry room an announcement plays loud and clear over all the monitors at the resort, including an unnecessary two in the laundry room itself.

"A body has been discovered! After a brief period of investigation the class trial will commence! Chop chop! Get to it!" It's the dreaded bear monokuma, whose very essence shakes your being to the core. You almost go into an internal rant about how much you hate him, but then you finally come to the realization that there is a dead body in front of you. You almost feel guilty for the sense of relief when you realize that it isn't yours or Masuyo's. It's Kaisui, and you don't need a pulse to check if he's dead. There's something through his neck that shows enough he can't be breathing. After a little more of staring at his body in varying degrees of silence and shock, monokuma shows up and you remember how sick you feel.

"Wow! This is great, one of you actually did it!" It takes all you have not to puke then and there. His cheer doesn't help to keep it down. "Honestly I didn't expect any of you to do it so soon, but I won't complain! And in case you need a reminder, it is most definitely one of you that murdered your friend Kaisui here, I can tell you because I saw it all on tape!" He gestures to one of the security cameras. "I see everything you know; you guys could be a bit more interesting. I almost fell asleep before I realized something was actually happening!"

"Wh-what's goinng on?" Matsuda quivers. "I can't believe my eyes, some fucker beat me to it."

"Well aren't you glad!" monokuma laughs in response. "This way you have a better chance of avoiding the punishment!"

"Punishment?" Kawada asks.

"Yes, yes, did I forget to tell you? If the murderer is caught, not only can neither them, nor any other people escape, but the culprit will face the super duper dreadful punishment. If they succeed, everyone else will face the punishment, but don’t' worry, I'm pretty sure you all will get it right, at least this time!"

"Speaking of punishment, monokuma" Emiline speaks. She's one of the calmer people in the room, but you can tell on her it's fake. "What do you plan to do to us that you keep alluding to? Surely you don't plan on sending yourself after us as a bomb every time?"

"Oh that?" he pretends to act intrigued. "It's quite simple really. The punishment you are all trying to avoid, is execution. Ex-e-cution! Any way you like! Electric chair, bzzt bzzt, poison gas, cough cough, torn apart like a paper plane in a hurricane! But still, execution is what it is, and that is, execution!" He seemed as if he thought repeating the word would make it even worse.

"What!" Otsuka shrieks, she's now the only one who can manage to make any noise. Those who were calm before have broken, and those broken have shattered.

"Yes, yes, execution, how lovely, it will differ of course, can't have you all dying the same way, that would get soooooo booorrring! So I've already started preparations for this culprit, let’s hope it won't go to waste, huh! So go ahead, start investigating things! To give you a bit of a head start, I'll be giving you each a copy of the monokuma file in your eHandbooks. It includes a summary by yours truly to aid in the investigation, but I won't ever include the culprit, that'd be too easy!"

He leaves finally, and a bit of silence is over appreciated. A few people take out their eHandbooks to look at, and you're one of them. It has a bit of information on the case, but spaces are left empty, probably to keep you from solving the case with this one piece of evidence alone. Something is better than nothing you suppose.

"<Monokuma file 1>

Victim: Kaisui Sadao.

Time of death:  Around 11 o'clock at night.

Place of death: Unknown.

Cause of death: Stab wound to the neck.

Other details: There were various other wounds on the body, including trauma to the head, and markings on the neck suggesting strangulation with a rope-like object."

[Monokuma file 1 has been added to the truth bullets]

There really isn't much more than a summation of the body, which is good, you guess because you don't know anyone willing of knowledgeable enough to examine the body and find out that much on their own.

You guess you're wrong about no one willing though, because the first thing Shibou turns to do is settle down near the body and start prodding it. You would try to talk to him, but he seems very absorbed in what he's doing. You definitely want to know what he finds though, maybe there's something else to investigate until he's done. You decide to talk to Emiline, she looks like she has something important to say.

"Aren't any of you worried?" She asks to the room before you can say a word.

"Worried about what?" you respond.

"About the culprit of course, if we leave the body unguarded, then who is to say that they won't try and hide evidence?" she says, and it does make sense.

"Oshima should do it." Hensou suggests. "No one would dare mess with him even if they wanted to destroy evidence."

"I can do it." Oshima agrees. "I don't think I would aide much in the investigation elsewhere."

"Oh, but what if you yourself are the culprit?" Emiline asks with an accusing glare. "Wouldn't that just make it even easier for you to hide evidence?"

"I will guard Kaisui Sadao-kun as well." Odori says. "If Oshima-kun, no, anyone tries to obstruct us in our investigation of this death, then they will be the next victim."

"Right," Hensou seems more nervous than he was before.

"Then i guess it will be fine to leave Yutaka and Ayumi here." Emiline finally gives in. "With the two physically strongest players out of the way it will make it easier for the rest of us to do a better investigation."

She's done then. What she was saying was important though. You must agree. You decide to talk to Odori next.

"Odori-san, I know you're on guard, but did you find anything yet?" you ask.

"I am glad someone decided to ask." she says. "I did find something, and I think it may end up being very important."

"Well what did you find?"

"This morning when I woke up I noticed a note on Kaisui-kun's desk. It asked to meet at the computer lab at 10:30. The sender claimed to want to share their motive, but they did not sign the note. I doubt that matching the handwriting would be worthwhile since it is so hastily scrawn. You may take the note if you wish. I doubt I will run into too many people while on guard."

"Thank you Odori-san, you're right, this will probably end up very important." You say as she hands you the note. You go over it quickly and it does say what she told you.

[Odori's Note has been added to the truth bullets]

Shibou looks like he's almost finished. Hensou calls you over.

"Hey, Ajiyama-kun, come look at this!" He seems a little excited, probably because he actually found something.

"What is it?" You ask, it probably is something important, you spot something blood colored as you walk over.

"I found some suspicious cloth in this washing machine. It looks like it has blood on it, but also a bad bleach job, like they tried to get rid of the blood. I can look through it if you need me to, my gloves don't get stained so easy."

"Yeah, go ahead, we might find something interesting." He picks through the different white cloths in the machine and ends up pulling something out that doesn't look anything like the rest.

"That's a shirt." you say.

"Indeed it is." He replies. "A white button up to be precise."

"This, actually looks like it may be really important to the case." you say. "Thanks for helping me find it, Hensou."

[Laundry Room Cloths has been added to the truth bullets]

Before he can say anything else, Shibou calls you over to the body.

"You, you've been helping everyone else with things, what can you make of this?" he asks urgently and gestures unpointedly at the body.

"Um, it looks like Kaisui is dead, is there something specific I should be worried about?" you ask.

"The weapon used to deal the final blow, it's still lodged in his neck, and I have no idea what it might be."

"It looks like Kaisui's tablet pen." you say "I've seen him using it more than once to draw things digitally with his tablet."

[Kaisui's Tablet Pen has been added to the truth bullets]

"Yes that's true, thank you. Would you like to know anything else about the body?"

"Yeah, that would be nice, since you seem to know so much about it."

"It's no trouble for me to investigate it, I assure you. I do apologize that I might not be able to give a fully accurate summation of the body though. I assumed I have the most medical background out of anyone here though, and it's not like I can actually treat anyone anymore, so I figured I could help this way."

"Just tell me about the body." you don't care about this dude's life story, you just want to know Kaisui's death story.

"Right, well," he sounds a bit hurt. "The wound to the back of his head. I may look into it more, but the entire actually area that was hurt has a weird shape to it. The bruising is kind of square, but the puncture wounds are all evenly spaced, as if one shape had a lot of points on it."

"Something like that sounds familiar, for some reason."

"I don't know why, that's why I'll be looking farther into it. The neck bruising is also weird, definitely not made by any normal rope. I have no idea what else it could be though. You should get going though; I'll bring up anything more I find during the trial."

[Shibou's Body Analysis has been added to the truth bullets]

"Right, I'll get going then." you say, and you leave the laundry room. Or you try to, but something catches your eye. There are blood smears on the carpet leading from the door to Kaisui's body. That's definitely something to take note of.

[Laundry Room Bloodstains has been added to the truth bullets]

You leave the laundry room and head towards the computer lab. Considering it was mentioned in the note Odori found, which obviously has a connection with Kaisui, it's worth checking out. You notice spots of blood outside in a trail leading that way too.

[Blood Trails has been added to the truth bullets]

You run into Masuyo on your way there. She seems nervous and shaken, you're sure you do too.

"Tsuneo, have you seen the meat tenderizer from the kitchen? It's missing, and it seemed unimportant when I first noticed, but now it's kind of suspicious, right? It went missing during the party, probably between 1:30 and 5:00."

[Masuyo's Account has been added to the truth bullets]

"Yeah, I'll look out for it. What's a meat tenderizer again?"

"It's a kitchen tool, it should be metal. It's got spiky things on the end, you know what I mean, right?"

Something clicks in your head. "Yeah, thanks," you start running towards the computer lab before she can say anything else. You don't know why you run, but you're really excited you figured something out. The meat tenderizer is definitely something that could have made that weird shaped head wound.

[Meat Tenderizer has been added to the truth bullets]

You're not really looking as you're running, so you run straight into Soushin on your way. You both fall to the ground and it's so awkward you blush. Realizing that you're blushing only makes you blush more. You almost feel bad that you're glad she's blind. Almost.

"Hey! What was that for?" She shouts, halfheartedly laughing. It's sad to see her not in full spirits.

"I'm sorry, Soushin-san, I wasn't looking where I was going." You apologize and scramble to get up off of her.

"Oh, so it was Ajiyama-chi who tackled me, you know, there are better ways to get a girl's attention!" She's able to spring up by herself again, and yup, you're really glad she can't see your face right now.

"Really, I didn't mean to, I was just excited, I was actually trying to search for the investigation."

"Yeah, yeah, I know how it is, but I'll have you know I'm not the culprit! I have a rock-hard alibi! From One o'clock onward I have been with Keina-chi! That is, until this morning, but if you need confirmation you can ask him."

[Soushin's alibi has been added to the truth bullets]

"No, I trust you Soushin-san, I don't think you did it."

"Aw, thank you Ajiyama-chi, well, you better get on with that 'investigation'." She does air quotes with her fingers as she says "investigation" and winks afterwards. You hope the blush dies down before anyone else sees you.

You're finally able to get near the main building and you notice something else. There's not only a blood trail leading all the way between the laundry room and the computer lab, there's also a shorter trail between the computer lab and the dining hall. You peek inside, and notice there's a fainter trail into the kitchen. Your main business is in the computer lab though

[Blood Trails has been updated in the truth bullets]

You open the doors to the lab, and as soon as you do, you know you've found jackpot. Tables are overturned, blood is on the floor, there are signs all over something major happened here.

[Evidence of a Struggle in the Computer Lab has been added to the truth bullets]

Since this is definitely involved in the case, you take a look around. Despite everything being messed up in some way, most of the things are still intact where they belong. Really all but two things. One of the cords has been moved all the way from one side of the room to the other, unlike any of the other cords. Kaisui's tablet pen is also missing from where his tablet is, this only furthers your suspicions of it being the murder weapon.

[Displaced Computer Cable has been added to the truth bullets]

[Kaisui's Tablet Pen has been updated in the truth bullets]

Doing a more thorough search, you check some of the cabinets in the room. Inside one of them you find the very meat tenderizer that has seemed so suspicious. It has blood on it and the culprit did not do a good job of hiding it. This was definitely used somehow.

[Meat Tenderizer has been updated in the truth bullets]

You think you're done with the investigation entirely, but you feel a buzz in your pocket. Taking your eHandbook out, you remember the text app it has, and that literally no one has been using it to your knowledge. This is because, you just got a message on it. From Masuyo.

"I know things are still tense between us, but for the sake of the trial I need to discuss some things with you. Meet me at small lake if you're willing."

Even in text she always had perfect grammar. You think you probably should talk to her, it would help with the case. You head to small lake with what you recognize as the tiniest bit of dread. She's waiting there for you, and it looks like she's thinking, but as soon as you're in view she starts talking.

"Look, Tsuneo, I've been wondering about something, and I know it probably doesn't quite make sense right now, but, how many copies of that outfit did monokuma give you?" She's very forward and straight to the point, she always was when it came to important matters.

"Um, ten, I think? Including the one I was wearing when I woke up." It's best not to question whatever she's asking as well.

"Hmm, I thought so. I have ten copies too. You may want to take note of that."

[Clothing Count has been added to the truth bullets]

"Oh, and Tsuneo, did you find anything on the meat tenderizer? You kind of ran off earlier."

"I did, it was in the computer lab, in one of the cabinets. It had blood on it, I think it's definitely involved with the case, so I left it in case anyone else needed to find it."

"Wow, thanks, that's probably really important. Oh, one more thing went missing from the kitchen, a bunch of white dish towels, did you find anything like that?"

"Oh, that could be what was in the washing machine! Thanks,"

[Laundry Room Cloths has been update in the truth bullets]

"I'm glad I could help, hey, but anything else important we can tell each other during the trial, alright?"

"Yeah, but um, Masuyo, about the motives-"

<Bing bong bang bong>

An announcement came over the speakers before you could say anything else. That damned bear.

"Attention students! Ahm, I'm getting bored, so, I've decided that the investigation period is now over! Please make your way to the stage in the dining hall and stand by for the class trial!" Masuyo nods at you when monokuma finishes, in recognition that now is not the time for a heartfelt talk. You both head to the dining hall, together, and soon everyone is there. The door at the back of the stage is now unlocked and it opens to an elevator. Once you all enter there's a jolt, and it starts moving down, down, and down. So far you don't know how far underground you are anymore, but it keeps going.

You think to yourself. _Now is time for this trial. A trial of life and death, someone has to die, but you're going to make sure it's the culprit._ No one else can die, and you won't let it happen.

Let the class trial

Begin!  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this chapter took so long, but school is starting, so it may end up that this is the norm. I already have the trial written though, so it won't take as long hopefully.


	6. Chapter One: Green Thumb, Red Handed: Class Trial

The elevator doors open to a strange room. The walls are decorated in black and orange, almost reminiscent of Halloween, but no, this is for Kaisui, you're sure of it. Monokuma is waiting at the head of a circle of 16 podiums, and he's ready to start speaking as soon as you all are there.

"Ohoho!" He shouts. "Please take your place at your assigned podium and we can get things rolling!" You do that, and you notice your stand is straight across from monokuma, Masuyo is on your right, and Kawada is on your left. Teams are all next to each other. It reminds you of that first time you circled up to introduce yourselves, but kind of backwards.

"Hey, Matsuda-san, why are you the one in front of monokuma?" MIyano asks.

"How am I supposed to fucking know?" She's so defensive she turns cynical. "It's probably just coincidence, if you ask me!" She makes a disgusting kind of scoff noise in her throat. You don't think she'll be nice any time soon, she's afraid, it's not hard to tell.

It feels like the room is spinning and it's time for the trial to begin. You have to find the culprit.

"Let's begin with a basic explanation of the class trial!" Monokuma says, and he already starts to speak. "So, your votes will determine the results. If you can figure out 'whodunnit' then only they will recieve punishment. But if you pick the wrong one... then I'll punish everyone besides the culprit, and the one who decieved everyone else will graduate! Is everything clear?"

"Yeah it's clear." says Otsuka, "But I have a question, what the hell is that?" She points to a stand next to Odori with a framed picture of Kaisui's face on it that would be reverent, if not for the mocking bloody red X over his face.

"Oh that? I'd feel awful if they got left out just because they died. Friendship can surpass even death's barrier! Who knows, maybe his spirit will help guide you to the correct solution during the trial."

"That's just disrespectful." Keina says. "You gotta respect the dead, man."

"Coming from a person who's name means respect nothing." Otsuka points out with an obvious eye roll.

"Well now that I've explained that for you, lets actually discuss the murder at hand, huh? I'll have you know, even I don't have all the time in the world for this." monokuma is pressing us to do it. "I'll even give you a marvelous topic to start with, how about... the murder weapon!"

"The murder weapon was a blunt object, but still sharp enough to wound, and also about as thick as a writing pen." Shibou says.

"How do you know something that specific?" asks Shiroju, with a look of disgust on his face.

"I inspected the body for more information than monokuma gave us, of course."

"Gross."

"But how do we know what that 'blunt yet sharp object' is?" Emiline asks. "We simply have no idea, I'm sure."

"I happen to know what that object is," you say. "It's very likely that it's Kaisui's own tablet pen. The weapon is still lodged in his throat, and I found it missing from the computer lab, where the tablet was."

"I guess a tablet pen does make some sense!" Miyano says, "I've always wanted one, but I can't draw anyways so there's no point."

"K-Kaisui probably didn't have it with him," Matsuda says. "There's no reason to carry something like that around ev-verywhere you go unless you're some kind of idiot who would lose it."

"I am confident that something as small as what you are describing would be very easy to lose." Odori says.

"So that's that then, the murderer stole Kaisui's tablet pen, or they found it somewhere, then they surprised him from behind and stabbed him." Oshima says. "Simple as that, right?"

"Wrong." you say. "There was definitely a sign of a struggle in the computer lab; I would go as far as to say that's where the murder took actually took place, and the current status of Kaisui's body was set up just to lead us astray. Odori found a note in her cabin this morning asking Kaisui to meet in the computer lab at 10:30 after the nightime announcement, not too long before he died. The monokuma file never specified he died in the laundry room."

"But what other evidence do you have that it happened there?" Hensou says. "I still think it happened in the Laundry room, I mean, his body was there, what other proof do you need? Couldn't the signs of struggle in the computer lab also have been to confuse us?"

"There were streaks of blood on the floor leading from his body to the door, and drops all the way from the laundry room to the computer lab, and from the lab to the kitchen." you say. "Not to mention the horribly cleaned up bloodstains in the computer lab itself, I don't think anyone would go that far and not move the body to match."

[Culprit's Coverup has been added to the truth bullets]

"Yeah, I guess that would match the bloodied cloths from the kitchen that I found too." Hensou says.

"Wait, where did you find _bloody_ cloth?" Kawada asks.

"It was in one of the washing machines, the culprit must have tried to wash them to get the blood out, but they forgot the water wasn't on." He says.

"The bleach splatters on them also support this." You say.

"I have something I am not sure of the meaning of still." Odori says, raising her hand. "Why were there other wounds on the body of Kaisui? Was the culprit perhaps trying to distract us from the real cause of death?"

"That must be it, yeah!" says Matsuda. "Not! What kind of a fuckin’ idiot are you?! We already established that they moved the body and tried to destroy evidence, you'd have to be as smart as _me_ to think to do more than that."

"Disregarding Matsuda-san's comment," Shibou says, "Those wounds were definitely inflicted before death."

"See!" Matsuda is yelling but her voice is quivering. "I fucking told you so!"

"What makes you so sure?" Otsuka says "It's not like there's any proof for it, and if Matsuda is so insistent that only she would be smart enough to disguise the cause of death, who says she didn't do it."

"Wait no, I d-didn't mean-" Matsuda stumbles.

"Actually there is proof." You say. "After someone dies, the circulation of their blood stops, and there's no way the head wound would have bled as much as it did if it was inflicted any time after death, it had to be considerably beforehand. Also, the way the bruising on his neck appears to be, I don't think he could have been strangled after death either, especially with the position of the tablet pen, which, if I may add, would have been removed if the culprit didn't want us to know how he died."

"Then, all of the other injuries happened during the struggle right?" Emiline says. "Sadao must have had a really hard time fighting; he's much tougher than I thought." She's using his given name, you didn't think they were that close.

"That just means the culprit is even tougher!" Soushin says. "It must have been someone really strong, like Odori-chan, or Oshima-chi!"

"Odori could have easily done it." Shiroju suggests. "Fake the note to the computer lab and actually have commited the crime in their cabin, then fake a scene afterward."

"I hate to say it, but it would have been really easy for you to carry him, Odori-sama." Keina says, he seems afraid that it might be true.

"Odori couldn't have done it!" Masuyo objects. "There'd be no point, she couldn't bring anyone along!"

"But just because she wouldn't be taking advantage of the team rules doesn't mean she couldn't have done it." Hiniwa. "Not everything here is friendly, Ajiyama-san."

"I did not murder Kaisui." Odori says. "Is not my word enough?"

"It's not, sorry, I just don't trust you, Odori-san." Hiniwa says.

"It does seem like a lot of evidence is pointing to you, Ayumi." Emiline.

"And so the bird flies free of the cage," Otsuka jeers "Sounds poetic, doesn't it, but really it was an evil little murderer who tried to fly away!"

"I just can't believe Odori-san did it!" Masuyo says. "There is literally no proof for it, why are we stuck on this one point?"

"If you really believe she didn't do it," Oshima says, "Do you have anything to prove otherwise, why should we believe you if you don't have anything either?"

"I just, I don't think Odori-san would kill Kaisui-san." She insists. "If she had killed anyone, it probably would have been Soushin-san. Keina was probably the one she was closest to here."

"However I did not kill anyone." Odori says plainly. "I can not conceive why this is taking so long."

"Stop lying!" Miyano yells. "You did it, just admit it!"

"Ahem," Monokuma coughs. "Just as despair inducing as you all failing the first trial would be, you're just going around in circles, this isn't entertaining at all!" His wicked grin pokes fun at the situation. "So, if you must know, I guess I can tell you, Odori Ayumi is not the killer!" He laughs. "Keep trying, I'm sure you'll get there eventually!"

"Hmm wait I have a question!" Miyano shouts, "There's just one thing, and it's probably important. What did the culprit use to strangle Kaisui? I don't think we found any rope near the scene, so it might be important right?"

"I think," Shibou speaks up again, "It couldn't have been any type of rope, the markings aren't abrasive enough, and there aren't any fibers near the wounds."

"But what kind of thing exists besides rope that could do it?" Keina asks.

"I can't think of anything for sure!" Miyano says.

"There's nothing that could have done it!" Kawada suggests. "There isn't even anything out of place!"

"Wait, that's not right." you say. "I found something in particular out of place that definitely could have done it."

"Well, spit it out, what is it?" Otsuka.

You take a second to think. "There was a cord out of place in the computer lab, which I thought was very strange. Even with the struggle, everything was still near where it belonged, but one cable was across the room from where it should be, and it looks suspiciously to have a bit more blood than it should on it."

"Well if it was just in the computer lab, I guess I didn't help at all." Miyano says. "Sorry, that was pretty much a dead end."

"Wait." Shiroju says. "Couldn't it still have been Keina? If they were so close. I don't doubt xem to be strong enough to have done it, I've seen xem running the track, xe just doesn't quit."

"There's one flaw with that." Masuyo says. "The meat tenderizer, which went missing before we found the body, and hasn't been found since, there's no way that Keina could have gotten it."

"Why the hell not, it makes sense to me!" Matsuda. "And what's this meat tenderizer got to do with it?"

"The headwound was caused by an object with a square surface seemingly covered with spike shaped objects." Shibou says. "It looks like this meat tenderizer fits the description of something that could cause such a wound."

"Still, why couldn't I have gotten it?" Keina asks. "Even I'm not sure, but I am sure I didn't do it of course."

"When the meat tenderizer went missing, it was during the lake party last night." Masuyo is explaining, but you feel like it will take a lot to know why she made such a claim. "I made snacks and it was there, but when I came back shortly after the party had started to get more, it was missing."

"So, Keina-san still could have gotten it while you were gone." Kawada points out.

"I don't think that's right." You say. "Masuyo, when did you leave the kitchen?"

"I was gone by about one thirty, after trashing the sushi I tried to make."

"Yeah, then Keina definitely couldn't have done it!" Soushin interjects. "He was helping me with my swimsuit by then, he couldn't have gotten it!"

"Thanks, Soushin." Keina says, he's blushing furiously, but it might be sunburn.

"Also," Shibou says. "From the way the wound looks, knowing what the weapon was, there's no way it was made by anyone shorter than him. It would cause an unnatural arm position."

"But it's not like Kaisui-san was really tall!" Miyano complains. "Half the class has got to be taller than him; you're not helping at all!"

"Couldn't Kaisui have been sitting down as well, that would make almost any of us taller than him." Emiline states. "Excluding me, of course."

"So it could be any fucking one of us," Matsuda says. "Of course, except for those of us with alibis!"

"You mean any of us could have done it?" Miyano asks, annoyed, "this trial is going to go on forever!"

"Couldn't you have done it, Miyano-san?" Kawada asks. "Surely you'd be tall enough if Kaisui were sitting down, and who knows how terrifying your motive was?"

"But have you ever seen me enter the kitchen?" Miyano asks. "I wouldn't know how to find a spoon, let alone a meat tenderizer or spare towels."

"But someone who would know their way around the kitchen, who was also tall enough to do it if Kaisui were sitting down," you say, "is you, Kawada. You've been making food almost constantly, and in the process of preparing the steak the other day, you definitely would have had to find the meat tenderizer at some point."

"But, I didn't do it, I have an _alibi_ , right, Oshima-kun?" Kawada is acting innocent but it becomes so obvious a facade that she might as well have said she'd done it.

"Right, of course, I was hanging out with her." Oshima seems nervous too. Monokuma was right, teams allow for accomplices.

"There's no way I could have done it! I'm not even strong enough; I can't have hit him hard enough to do that."

"Actually, I'm pretty sure you are strong enough." Masuyo says. "You told me yourself, you used to be the plow horse on your farm, there's no way you couldn't have done this."

"Still, I couldn't have done it, I couldn't have."

"You had the perfect motive, even without monokuma's interference, you and Oshima are so close, and you haven't even been bothering to hide the fact you're fucking. Might as well escape and go live happily ever after." As soon as the words escape your lips, Oshima's eyes go wide and his entire face turns red. He can't even speak now.

"I'm telling you I didn't do it, why would I murder Kaisui, of all people?"

"Stop lying, Kawada-san. You're better than this." You say, she's only failing even worse at hiding it.

"BUT YOU DON'T HAVE ANY PROOF!"

"I do." she looks even more shocked than ever when you say that. "Hensou found a bloodied white button up in the laundry room with the cloth."

"But seven people wear white button ups here! Four of them are even tall enough to have done it, even without him sitting down, since you're so insistent that he was!" She refuses to stop defending herself even when she's done. "There's no proof it was mine! I can't believe you're trying to pin this on me! What did I ever do to you?! Stop attacking me! YOU CAN'T PROVE ANYTHING!"

"I can." you say. "Now, I'm actually not sure of everyone, but it seems to me that monokuma only gave each of us ten copies of our clothes to wear, disregarding swimwear or nightwear."

"I can testify to that." Hensou says, and a few more murmurs tell that everyone except Kawada or Oshima agrees, he still seems to be frozen in shock for now.

"I'll even tell you then!" Monokuma says. "Yup, I only gave each of you ten copies, and I can also tell you that Kawada Suzume didn't have any white button ups in her pajamas or anything else, what she wears to bed is much less modest."

"So, Kawada-san, if you didn't do it, proove the bloody shirt isn't yours," you say, "you must have all ten copies, right?"

"Losing it isn't an excuse at this point." Masuyo backs you up. "If you have any reason you don't have it, you better explain it in explicit detail."

"So, have you given up yet?" you ask. Kawada stares on in shock. You decide to go over the events of the case for everyone one last time.

~

Sometime last night, the culprit slipped a note into the Black Team Cabin asking to meet at the computer lab at 10:30, claiming to want to meet and share motives, but actually they were hoping to commit their very own murder.

Kaisui must have shown up early, and started to use his tablet, before the culprit showed up. He sat down and went to drawing, so that when the culprit showed up, with a meat tenderizer from the kitchen, he didn't even notice at first, so he didn't bother to get up. The culprit hit Kaisui from behind before he could do anything. This didn't actually kill him though.

Seeing that Kaisui was still alive and aware of their presence, the culprit grabbed a nearby cord and tried to strangle Kaisui with it, struggling with him across the room. This caused the various marks and bloodstains spread throughout.

The struggle caused Kaisui to pass out, but he was still breathing when the culprit got rid of the cord, so they took the nearest thing they could find, Kaisui's tablet pen, and stabbed him in the throat.

Realizing they should cover up the time too late, the culprit hurried to the kitchen to get cloth to clean it up, not realizing they were dropping blood along the way, and they returned, but didn't do a very good job, due to poor lighting and rush.

They then carried Kaisui's body to the Laundry room; it was no problem after a childhood of farming and hard work, but again they left blood trails without realizing.

They put the cloth in one of the laundry machines and realizing they had blood all over themselves, they had to take their clothes off too, so they put it in the washing machine with the cloth and doused it all with bleach, not realizing that it wouldn't be running, their one fatal mistake.

And so, the one who murdered Kaisui, is you, Kawada!

~

"How could you have done this, Suzume?" Oshima has started to speak, but his voice is shaky and quiet, dotted by tears.

"I couldn't do it! I couldn't lose anyone else; I couldn't let my family starve again!" Was that her true motive?

"So you killed someone, and planned to kill all of us, just to save someone else?" Masuyo asks, she looks hurt as well. "I told you, I told all of you we'd get out of here without anyone dying!"

"Someone had to die." Kawada states, she still seems nervous, and afraid. "It was inevitable. I just thought I could take advantage and take Oshima with me, but I wanted to help you all, I swear."

"How would killing all of us help us?!"

"I didn't know you all would die if I left, I meant to take out Odori, and take Oshima too, so you wouldn't have to worry about either of the strong people here, but that idiot Kaisui showed up instead. I didn't want to actually tell him my motive, he might tell Odori, so I had to kill him!"

"You told me," Oshima is in actual tears now, and you can hear the very essence of betrayal in his voice. "You told me you had just cut yourself in the kitchen, why wouldn't you tell me?!"

"I couldn't tell you, I didn't think you'd just let me get away with murder." Kawada has started to cry too. It's really a mess.

"Upupupupu! No more time for sentimentality folks!" Monokuma has started speaking again, and you're all struck with fear. "It's time for the vote!"

"But, I can't vote for Kawada to die!" Oshima shouts.

"It's either you or her!" Monokuma laughs. "Alright, so, use the buttons in front of you to select the culprit, be sure to be extra careful to vote, or you'll get punished too!"

Silently, everyone votes. Lights flash, and it feels like you're in a casino.

"Did we get it wrong or something?" Keina asks. "Are we going to die?"

"Nope, you're absolutely correct!" Monokuma is applauding. "The murderer of Super High School Level Illustrator Kaisui Sadao is none other than Kawada Suzume!"

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry," Kawada is apologizing fruitlessly. "I didn't want anyone to die, I didn't."

"Kind of ruined that when you murderered someone, sweetheart," Otsuka says.

"Oh well, no time for that, it's time for the super duper heart pounding execution!"

"No, please, I don't want to die!" monokuma ignores Kawada's pleas. "I've prepared a very special punishment for Super High School Level Genetic Specialist Kawada Suzume!" Monokuma presses a button, and a giant chain comes out and clamps around Kawada's neck. A hallway opens and she is pulled down it. You see her looking oddly content before a gate closes and you all are moved to a different room and made to watch.

~

{Greenhouse of Horror}

The Screen fades from complete darkness to a picturesque garden landscape. It's very obviously inside a greenhouse. The screen pans to a shed and the camera view moves to the inside, where Kawada is.

She's surrounded by creatures somewhere in between plant and animal, all reaching and biting at her. As soon as it looks like they're going to get her, the chain yanks her away again, this time to a perch far above any of the plants in the garden. She's hanging by the neck, but she's holding herself up with pure might. The screen flashes to a picture of what looks like a control panel. It switches to show signs of rain, and water starts pouring down immediate once the camera moves back to Kawada. The plants at her feet are getting encouraged, growing faster and higher than any normal plant would. Once again, they're about to get to her when the screen shows the control panel again, this time switching to heat lamps.

Most everything in her vicinity dries up. It's very obvious that it is very hot in the greenhouse, so hot that her glasses crack. Kawada is sweating, but you're unable to tell if it's from fear or from the heat. Slowly it zooms out, and what looked like a barren landscape is now shown to have one plant left. A small bud pokes out of the ground, but it very rapidly stretches and blooms to show a venus flytrap-type plant that is filled with razor sharp teeth. It looks as if it's going to bite her off of the chain, but before it can,

the chain breaks. Kawada falls into the beast's mouth and is swallowed up whole. It gains an appearance of sentience as it licks what looks like it's lips and grins, showing bloodied fangs. The screen fades to darkness again. None of you know what to say.

~

You all stand there for a while, before you can move, and the lights are dark except for the one in the elevator. You leave one by one, all silently shaken.

End Chapter 1 Deadly Life.

You recieved object, miniature venus flytrap.

14 Students remain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter Otsuka makes references to the meaning of certain characters names. When she says "Coming from a person who's name means respect nothing" in regards to Keina saying monokuma is disrespectful, Keina's name is literally spelled with the character for respect and then the one for "nothing", which is also commonly used in words meaning normal. It was intended to kind of resemble a name meaning "respect nothing normal".  
> Otsuka also tries to be poetic when saying "And so the bird flies free of the cage" in response to the suspicion of Odori as the culprit, this is because Odori's name means "big bird". Really she's just making puns the entire time and this will continue.


	7. Chapter Two: Puella Magi Masuyo Tragica: Daily Life- Day 1- Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So so so very sorry this took so long but I've been so busy with school and stuff. I actually have all the way up to the third day of chapter three's daily life written, but it's on paper so I have to type it up, it takes a while. Also this day one got really long so I split it in two, the rest of the day should be up soon enough, I promise! I still have to type it though.

I woke up with a start. I had dreamt of the events of the previous day. Kawada's execution hung heavy in the back of my mind. The very thought was horrifying, but I couldn't just prolong the fact it had happened. I had to face my fears. Still, as we left the underground courtroom none of us spoke a single word. None of us ate. We all went wordlessly back to our rooms, and those of us who were lucky slept. That's what I managed to do, and the fact I fell asleep so early explained why I had woken up at 1 am, according to me bedside clock. The darkness outside confirmed it. I was never able to sleep for a long time.

I heard noises coming from the kitchenette of the cabin and the first thing I thought was that someone was trying to kill me. I grabbed the heaviest thing nearby, which happened to be my alarm clock, (side note: what was I thinking? Who the hell uses a clock as a weapon?), and I headed as sneakily as I could to face whoever it was.

I slinked into the kitchenette with what could be described as spy-like precision. It could also be described at a five year old's vague attempt to steal cookies as 8 o'clock at night by sneaking past their parent's room. I was expecting the very worst, perhaps I thought Kawada had come back from the grave to reap her revenge, but instead I found Tsuneo, fiddling with the microwave, and trying to make warm milk. He noticed anything before I could do anything about my sad attempt at being sneaky.

"Can't sleep?" He asked, with what might have been laughter under different circumstances, instead it was a sad smile. I shook my head in agreement, which is really confusing sometimes, but it worked this time. "Me neither, I'll make you a glass too, if you can tell me how this damned thing works." He gestured towards the microwave with an annoyed, joking look. Tsuneo had had insomnia for as long as I could remember, and as long as I could remember waking up at five every day. We were destined to have different sleep schedules. He always looked though as if he hadn't slept in weeks, most of the time because he almost hadn't. He overworked himself and underslept, but he couldn't afford to sleep in. He had an important job to do.

What was that again?

A sharp pain hit my head and I wanted to double over, but I wanted to look strong for him, even at one in the morning. I couldn't remember, and this happened often and I hated it. All of the specifics were gone but the general idea was still there. I wanted to remember.

I pressed a few buttons on the sleek microwave control panel and it spun into light. In the dim brightness I could see that Tsuneo was impressed. He held it in his gentle smile, the one he always wore, yet which always held a different meaning.

In this moment, I decided that the motives monokuma gave us didn't really matter. Even if Tsuneo was this ominous Super High School Level Despair, he was still my brother, still Tsuneo, and I still had to take care of him. And he took care of me.

We drank the milk in the same silence that had been haunting us, but it was no longer deadly and tense, that had melted away with the gently warm steam and froth of the warm drinks on summer nights when neither of us could sleep.

I always loved summer; it was beautiful, large, and important. Everything seemed happy and perfect, no matter how hot it got, or how much it rained. I only truly felt alive then. The whole world did. The trees and the streams danced in time with each other and the breeze, and they invited me along. No one could ever ruin summer for me.

I must have fallen asleep before he did, because when I woke up again I was in bed, and he had already left. It was only a bit after the morning announcement, I felt bad for sleeping in still.

I got up quickly and easily, as always, and headed towards the dining hall. I didn't want to be solely eating pancakes, and I was afraid that would be the case since the only good cook I knew to still be alive besides me was Matsuda, and no matter how good her pancakes were, I did not want to be eating them for the entire time until we escaped. In a passing glance, I noticed one of the gates off of the main area was opened.

I smelled fish when I walked into the dining hall, and it smelt amazing, but my first instinct after living with Tsuneo so long was to check for the smoke of something burning. There was no smoke, and ignoring those who had shown up in the dining hall before me, I rushed into the kitchen to find out what was happening.

To my surprise, Hensou was there, and he was wearing a paper chef's hat which did not look good on him at all with his hair pulled back. It wouldn't have looked good with it lose either. It appeared to be that he was the one cooking fish.\

"Hello, Ajiyama-san~!" He said looking up, but not turning around. "I bet you did see this coming!" He flipped the fish he was currently frying high into the air, spinning around twice before catching it back in the pan.

"I guess I didn't?" I said, almost questioningly, he laughed.

"Don't worry about breakfast today, I've got it, and if you see Matsuda-san, could you pass on the message?" I nodded, forgetting he wasn't actually looking at me, but it didn't seem like a real question.

What he was doing seemed strange to me, but I let it slide, and went back to the dining hall. There were already a few people gathered there, including Otsuka and Odori. The taller of the two wasn't speaking much, which was pretty mundane for her, but she looked terrified and sleepless, which was not. Otsuka, however, was grinning.

"You all finally get to have a taste, lucky you!" she was saying. "I myself have been even luckier to have been eating this kinda stuff since we got here! This shit is seriously the best, better than any of the food I had when I was staying with the Togami household! Who woulda guessed, with what a total perv he acts like!" She was loud and boisterous. No one bothered to speak up or stop her, so she continued to brag about Hensou's cooking until he came out with two plates piled high with steaming fresh fish. Even then she tried to continue between bites of the five different fillets she had squeezed onto her plate.

Still, not everyone was there, and it wasn't just the feeling of emptiness left by the two chairs. Matsuda, Oshima, and Hiniwa were missing, and Tsuneo was nowhere to be found.

That is, until he came rushing into the hall, breathless.

"Oshima isn't in his cabin." He said, in between gasps.

"Do you think he might've..." Emiline started, and then she stopped. We all knew she was referencing suicide though.

"That's what I'm fucking worried about!" Tsuneo shouted. I knew he meant business about this, he never cursed in such a fashion.

"Tsuneo, calm down," I said. "I'll help you look for him, I'm sure he hasn't done anything drastic at this point." He only wavered a little bit, but it was enough.

"Right, but I've checked everywhere, I can't find him." he said.

"Perhaps, but is it not possible that Yutaka is in one of the newly opened areas." Emiline suggested.

"Huh?"

"Did no one else notice? I was sure that the gates to, oh what was it, forest path 1 were open. Those along with the shutters over the stairs outside were gone."

"I guess I did notice it in passing." I said. "But I guess I didn't find it very important at the time."

"Oh it is more important than you could ever imagine." Emiline said. "I would suggest doing a thorough investigation of this strange new discovery. I am confident we will find Yutaka if we do so."

"That actually sounds like a good idea." I admitted. "But let’s stay in our teams again? I feel like we'd all be a lot safer that way."

"Odori-san can come with Soushin-san and me." Keina suggested. "We don't mind, right?"

"Of course not!" Soushin said. "This way someone can actually keep an eye on Keina-chi." She grinned and laughed.

"Right, thank you." Odori still seemed out of it, but she left with them, and everyone broke off into their teams to explore. Tsuneo and I were the last ones left in the hall, again.

"So, we're probably going to explore everywhere again, aren't we?" he asked.

"Yup!" I responded. "Let's start with the stairs, and then check whatever's on that forest path." He nodded, and we stepped outside then up the stairs. They opened up into a hall, or room, or something else mid-sized and rectangular, which only had another set of stairs leading up which were barred off, and a single set of double doors. There didn't seem to be any other option if we wanted to do something useful, so we each pushed open one of the two doors to be faced with a floor to ceiling high shelf of books. There were signs hanging from the ceiling, one pointing to each of the two sides of the oddly shaped room. The one to the left, the north, read "nonfiction" and to the right, "fiction". It appeared to be a well organized library. We went to the left first.

I didn't pay too much attention to the individual books, but from the titles I glanced at, it did seem to be a nonfiction section, with boring things like biographies and badly drawn books on ‘how to draw manga’. One of the books, mixed within the rest, caught my eye. "A brief History of Hope's Peak Academy". Surely no one would care if I took it for a bit of light reading later, I did wish to find out about this place everyone but me seemed to know. It didn't quite fit in my pocket, so I carried it by my side, with the back cover facing out; it seemed less conspicuous this way.It seemed as we turned the corner of the u shaped room that Emiline and Shibou were in this section of the library, having a heated discussion.

"What I do could never be replicated by some sort of petty machine!" Shibou was shouting.

"You mean to tell me you believe such archaic medical practices could not be further improved by the addition of extra technological assistance!" Emiline was as well. This was supposed to a library, gosh darn it.

"Hey, um, guys?" I said. "Maybe you shouldn't be fighting so loudly in here?"

"I wouldn't be fighting if this prehistoric caveman son of a phallically patterned ancestor to a leopard wasn't insisting that 'hard work' is better than anything I have accomplished in my lifetime!" Emiline proclaimed.

"And neither would I if you didn't think that metal gears are capable of replacing the precision of things done by hand!" Shibou argued.

"They are more than just gears!"

"They are still assembled by hand!"

"Machines make nearly everything!"

"Humans are the ones maintaining those machines!"

"And how do you think those humans get to work each day, keep their food fresh, see what they're doing!"

"Using their own willpower and intellect!"

"Using machines!"

"Please, both of you, stop." Tsuneo said. They both instantly calmed down, if only a little. "Humans do make machines, even those which make machines, but machines also do help us in our daily lives, and I doubt you can find any person living a modern life who doesn't touch any kind of machinery in their daily life. Please at least try to see it from each other's viewpoints." They both ceased bickering, but neither one looked like they had truly said all they wanted to on the issue.

"Why did you even start fighting?" I asked. "You never seemed to have any problems before."

"I happened to stumble upon one of the books I've written." Shibou said.

"And I as well, you know neither of us are truly authors, but Arata's Advancements in therapy, and mine in robotics had to be told to the world." Emiline explained.

"We both started reading each others, and I guess we just pointed out too many of the little errors or personal quips we had with the information." Shibou elaborated.

"I guess reading a book in front of its author is an unusual experience." I said, "It's just not a good reason to fight.

"There are a lot of books here." Tsuneo said. "Seriously, a lot, surely you could read a different one that you wouldn't argue about."

"I suppose that is one solution." Emiline admitted. "Before I came upon mine, I did see many other novels detailing diverse subjects, even some in English and other foreign languages. We'll have to get Toshiko to translate in case one of them will be interesting."

"I'm sure there are some important documents in here." Shibou said. "I'll try to skim the titles to find any, I know a bit of English, it was necessary."

"Right, so I trust we can leave you to that without any more fights breaking out." Tsuneo said.

"Oh, just one more thing, Tsuneo, Masuyo," Emiline said. "Neither of us yet have gone into the fiction section at all, be sure to check it out."

"Sure," Tsuneo said. "It shouldn't be much trouble." I carried my book with me and went to the fiction section. The walls were more colorful here, and the chairs more interesting to look at, comfier I thought. There seemed to be a lot of manga magazines and serials. There also seemed to be a head of blond hair with a teal streak just barely popping up over the shelves, and a brown-haired head only a little taller.

Miyano picked up on our presence immediately.

"Hey, hey, hey!" She was excited as she had been when she first discovered the cute bags and accessories in the store. "Do you see how many books are here? They have every single issue of all my favorite series, and all the ones I've voiced as well! Even hanaki is here! Even Shiroju-kun's favorites are here!"

"They are indeed." He said, as if cued. "But to be honest, that's not what I'm most worried about."

"Well, what is?" I asked.

"There is a very ominous book here, a light novel," he said. "I don't know what it's about, but most of the words and graphics are blocked out, in fact the only things left uncovered are the word 'despair' and pictures of this strange girl." He showed us a picture of the girl, I recognized her immediately from fashion magazines and commercials alike.

"Isn't that, Junko Enoshima?" I asked. "You've seen her, right? You must have, she's the most popular model of our generation."

"Sorry," Shiroju says. "I'm a little out of touch, I don't really care about fashion much." Who would have guessed? "Anyways, i think I might be able to read the text underneath, and find out what her connection is to despair, but it would take a while and strain my eyes a lot, I'm not sure it's worth it."

"We'll find someone else to do it." Tsuneo said. "Don't worry, it's worth it."

"Thanks!" Miyano said. She was back staring at the shelves and the book titles. "Oh my god! They have the battle royale light novel and manga! This'll be real useful!"

"Right..." Tsuneo said. I took the 'despair' book and tucked it under my arm with the other book and we left the library, along with the main building.

Facing East, forest path 1 was on the left, or the north. It was next to forest path 2, but that one was still shut off. We hadn't found Oshima yet, so he had to be somewhere on the path.

The first few yards of the path were narrow, and there were still thick trees on either side. Escape still seemed to be near impossible. I still tried to hopelessly hope we could do it.

After that first bit, the path opened up wide, but there wasn't much to see. There was a large drab building to the right with an equally large shining red sign that read "MONOKUMA MILITARY SURPLUS WAREHOUSE" in large, imposing, English letters. The path continued after this clearing, but we decided to enter the warehouse.

Otsuka and Hensou were inside.

"Yo, Ajiyama squared!" Otsuka said, in English, I barely understood.

"What did you say?" Tsuneo didn't.

"Sorry, nothing important." she switched back seamlessly to Japanese. "My head is all stuck in English, I was trying to read the labels on these damned things."

"That's cool!" I said. "So you're finally getting to use your talent as a translator, you weren't lying to us!" I laughed. Her expression changed to something much more sombre.

"Right," she said, "Well anyways, there's a lot of stuff here, and it does seem to be of military design, as the sign outside suggests."

"There's also some other non-standard stuff," Hensou said. "There's a lot of parachutes over here, I wish we had a plane so I could show you guys some cool tricks, my talent isn't very useful."

"I think if we had a plane, there would be bigger priorities than parachuting tricks." I said.

"Huh? Like what?"

"Maybe we could use the plane to, oh, I don't know, escape?"

"Oh right, I almost forgot we were actually trapped here." He laughed, but it was sadder than a laugh should be.

"There's something more immediate to the situation than planes though." Otsuka interjected. "It makes sense with military supplies, but there's an alarming amount of weapons here. Survival knives, rifles, grenades, there's at least fifty of each."

"It's just that bear." Tsuneo grunted. "He's trying to psyche us out into killing each other,"

"No one else will die." I insisted. "We all can help prevent it. In fact, let's make a promise. None of us will tell anyone about the weapons here, it'll make it harder for anyone to find out, right. A truce between the four of us."

"I can go for that." Hensou agreed. We all did, and there wasn't much else we could even find in the large warehouse, and Oshima didn't seem to be there, so Tsuneo and I bid farewell and left.

We continued down the path and there was another clearing. The building here was somehow even creepier than the warehouse full of weapons. It was a greenhouse garden. And it looked exactly like the one Kawada had died in. I wanted to puke.

Stepping inside only confirmed it. This was exactly like the place where she had died. Complete with brick paving and wooden shed, many sheds actually. The only things missing were the mutated plants. Keina, Odori, and Soushin took their place.

"This is, haunting." I said, approaching them.

"You're right." Keina said. "Even I'm terrified, but there's no explaining it."

"I can't even be sure this is the real place." Soushin said. "But the pure feeling of it, there's no denying that it's true."

Odori didn't say a word, no one did really for the entire time I was there, but I went about the investigation alone. Tsuneo did as well.

I decided to check the sheds, none of the plants looked that important, so it was the obvious choice. I entered warily, afraid that what I had seen last night still lingered in the area, but when I took the first step, there wasn't even a bit of plant matter left. The floor itself was washed spotless, not even a speck of dirt was left. It wouldn't have been weird to find dirt here, it was a garden. That only made it worse really. I checked all of the various gardening tools and cleaning supplies next. Everything except for the weed killer and acid wash seemed to be in perfect order, and never used. If the kitchen itself ever stopped working, there was enough in the one shed to keep us living off of a vegetable garden until the problem was fixed. I left the shed in favor of the path through the garden, to look at the rest of them and check for similarities, or differences.

There were a lot of plants of all types and colors I knew of, and some that didn't even fit in with that, but nothing similar to what I'd seen in Kawada's execution. I really wished there was someone who would know some of the names of the flowers so they could be more than something pretty to look at. Things like that annoyed me, all pretty colors and no meaning.

They were shockingly pretty colors though.

The garden was huge inside the greenhouse, warranting all the sheds it contained. They all appeared the same, fully stocked and pristine in everything except weed killer and acid wash. Except for the last one.

I met Tsuneo in that one, it was the last one he had looked at too, or the first and the contents just shocked him so much he couldn't be bothered to check any others. I wouldn't have been surprised, I was shocked too, so much I didn't speak to him for a while after staring at the contents.

In the corner of the shed was a huge pile of painted scrap metal, with the colors wearing away in thin stripes. This was the shed we had seen Kawada in, it was obvious from the large lavender bulb amidst the green and orange tones, exactly like the monster in the execution. It was weird to think about though, the indescribable plant monsters were probably animatronics programmed to appear terrifying and menacing, and they had succeeded in their job. There was nothing in the collection resembling anything large enough to have formed the giant Venus flytrap from the ending though, and we didn't see anything else on our way out of the garden either, there was nothing left to see.

We left the greenhouse in that same uncomfortable silence which lingered with us, but there was nothing important for us to say. We passed by a set of public bathrooms on the way to the next large clearing, nothing interesting in those either, very standard, including the smell. We both managed to laugh about that part.

The small, smelly path led only to a large imposing gate, taller than Tsuneo and me combined. There was nothing truly like the open, sunlit clearings the other two areas of importance kept nearby. This place also seemed more depressing than the other two, despite them being a building occupied by war machines or the specific death place of a dear friend. Perhaps it was the gothic style of the wrought-iron gate, or the word "graveyard" enclosed in the design so intricately it was unreadable, even to my “skilled” eyes.

So I pushed open the gate without knowing about the location, Tsuneo followed close behind.

There, inside the large open space filled with marked out plots in the ground and four individual nearly rectangular vertical stone slabs, two with freshly piled dirt on top, and the other two with patchy grass already grown. Amongst these stones were the three characters that had been missing from the breakfast scene. Hiniwa was off to the side, silent as always, while Oshima and Matsuda knelt quietly, reverently, and separately.

Matsuda occupied the space between the two gravestones with grass over them, next to each other but with one plot wide enough for a single person between them. Oshima was in front of one of the fresh plots, so i approached the remaining one. All of the other graves had fresh cut flowers, but this one was barren. It only made what I read next much worse to face.

"海水貞雄  
 ~~====== \--======~~  
An artist's true work can only be enjoyed after their death."

It was Kaisui's own grave. The dates of his birth and death were scratched out and worn beyond recognition, and the quote was much less moving than expected. I hadn't known while Kaisui was alive what his name was spelled like. I hadn't known a lot about Kaisui. I don't think anyone had. That fact weighed the guilt of his death even heavier on my heart.

I peered over at the grave Oshima kneeled silently in front of. It looked as if the green and white lilies lain there had been placed by him. I could make out the words on the grave just barely from my distance.

"川田雀  
 ~~====== \--======~~  
There is always something to be made from what appears to be nothing."

The dates on this one were marked out as well, but it was clearly Kawada's. It now made since why Oshima had been missing, and why he hadn't moved at all.

Just from seeing him on the street, anyone would be scared of Oshima Yutaka, but here he looked so vulnerable. The tears were flowing from his eyes like rivers, but silent, and his head was bowed in reverence. I stayed with him for a moment, attempting to pay my respects to Kaisui and Kawada, but it was proving a difficult task. One of them I knew nothing of other than a name, and the other was a murderer. They both had seemed nice, but I was never a good judge of character. I never would be.

I stood up, and Oshima followed soon after. I wish he hadn't, I had almost forgotten how much taller than me he was. He smiled faintly at me, but neither of us spoke. I moved over to where Matsuda was.

I couldn't read the names on either of those gravestones, but it wasn't because of distance. They were in other languages. The dates, or something in the same spot, were still marked out though, and I wondered why they didn't just leave them off of the gravestones if they didn't want us to know. Neither of them had quotes on them like the others, just names and scratched out dates. I managed to make out what the names were on the graves, but I still had no idea what they meant.

"Stephen Alexoriander Matthews"

"유광선"

I was pretty sure the first one, to Matsuda's left, was an American or European name, but it was hard to tell with such an eccentric middle name. The other one must have been Korean, I'd seen it before numerous times, but never bothered to learn it. I was clueless.

I must have stood there staring a bit too long in confusion, because Matsuda spoke up first.

"You know, under normal circumstances, I would only permit access to my back-story for friends of level four clearance or higher." This might've seemed funny or strange, but the tears rolling down her cheeks and the words that just kept getting stuck in her throat made it only a melancholic moment. "but I guess for you, and right now I can make an exception. So, where do you want to start from, I can make this story long or short. I'd understand if you want to skip it too, so just hold down O. I'll understand."

"No, no, no, it's okay, tell as much as you need to." I said, I don't know why Matsuda was telling me this, but it must have been important, or maybe it could help me understand her better.

"My dad," Matsuda pointed to the left grave, with English letters. "A whole lot of years ago, ages even, my dad was living in America. It made sense because he was born there, lived there his whole life. My mom was born in Japan, yeah? But she was taking a huge fancy trip to America to learn and experience new things or some shit. She met my dad, they fell in love, the whole shabang, and then there was me. Due to certain unimportant situations though, neither of them could leave their native countries and live in the other. So I lived with my mom most of the year, and any breaks that were long enough I visited my dad. He loved the entire sc-fi genre; he was the one who got me into it at first. He also gave me this." she moved her fingers over the fraying edges of her long scarf. "So anyways, one summer, I was eight, or nine, I think, I met this guy." She pointed to the other gravestone. "He was in a similar situation, except, his mom was in America, and his dad was in South Korea. He was visiting his mom. We became best friends, blah, blah, blah, and we hung out so much our two families almost became like one. So by the time I was 12 I had already seriously started working on finding methods of time travel to test. Kwang-Sun, the guy, he was too. We both made huge advancements, but I still haven't quite made it yet, and he didn't have the chance. One summer I got so busy I couldn't make my trip to America, but Kwang-Sun did, and he planned some sorta 'father-son' trip." Matsuda was speaking very quickly by then, she might've been excited or anxious, but she wasn't showing any distinction between the two varied personalities I had gotten so used to. "They had planned to go fishing at some campsite a little whiles away, and they took the train but..." Her tone then dropped as she remembered the ending to her story. "Their train crashed. They both died. I was still young and foolish then, I thought I could go back and save them, so I threw myself into my work, I rarely left my lab. That's why I g-g-g-got ac-c-c-cepted int-t-t-to H-hope's P-p-p-peak," she stuttered and it sounded as if she was going to pick up the nervous personality again, but really

She was crying.

The entire environment changed as if to match her mood. The dark clouds which had been looming overhead the whole time finally started to rain.

It seemed like a scene out of a movie. Hiniwa, who had been standing by, brought out an umbrella that I hadn't noticed before, and led Matsuda out of the graveyard. He handed another to me, and at my confused face he said only one thing.

"I thought it looked like rain."

I stood there quietly for a while, and Tsuneo had gravitated next to me. I noticed that Oshima had already left without my noticing, but I didn't mind.

I stood in the rainy graveyard with a black umbrella, and I thought as the tiny drops came down made a near silent music around us.

Did they really die, for this?

END CHAPTER 2 DAY 1, Part 1  
  



	8. Chapter Two: Puella Magi Masuyo Tragica: Daily Life- Day 1- Part 2

We left the cemetery after a while in silence, and I noticed it wasn't raining anywhere other than there. We went back to the dining hall to review our findings with everyone else. The atmosphere lifted along the way, and I was able to actually smile by the time we got there.

Everyone had arrived before Tsuneo and me, so we took two of the four remaining empty chairs. I had to remind myself that just because the other two were still empty did not mean we still had to wait more, and I should start to get used to their absence.

Emiline was the first to speak up.

"Good, all 14, we can get started! I'll go first." She spoke with an unrefined dignity that few would ever achieve. "Arata and I," Shibou grimaced, "explored rather nearby. Despite the so obvious addition of so called 'forest path 1' the first set of stairs has also been revealed for our usage. Sadly the next set is still blocked off, but this second floor has quite the extensive library, wouldn't you agree, Katsuro?"

"Me?" Shiroju asked; Emiline nodded. "Ah, yeah, I looked through the fiction section with Miyano-san. It was mostly manga though, and a few non-fiction books were misplaced there."

"Huh? I didn't notice any non-fiction books!" Miyano said.

"Perhaps you were too preoccupied searching for all the stories you had taken part in the animation of." Emiline snapped. "Continue, Katsuro."

"Right," Shiroju said. "But I didn't find much else besides that book." he looked towards me.

"Huh? What book?" Miyano asked. "I feel like I'm missing out on a whole bunch of important things."

"Oh, I gave it to Ajiyama-san, I thought she could do more work with it than I could." I just remembered the two books I had been carrying around. I put the smaller one on the table for everyone else to see.

"Yeah, it's a really weird book." I said, noticing all the attention suddenly on me. "Almost everything is blacked out except for the word 'despair' and pictures of this one girl that looks like Junko Enoshima."

"Oh, but, Masuyo, what's that other book you have?" Emiline insisted.

"This one?" I asked, holding up 'A History of Hope's Peak'. "I found this in the non-fiction section. I thought it might help to explain some of our situation, and why I don't remember as much about the school, but I haven't read it yet."

"Then why not read it now?" Emiline prodded.

"Okay," I said tentatively. I opened the book to be faced only with many words I could not read. "Um, but I don't think this is Japanese."

"Oh!" Otsuka exclaimed. "Then what is it? I've been dying to read something foreign for ages!" I handed the book to her, but she grabbed it out of my hands before I could complete the action. "Hmmm, I think the book title was lying to you, Ajiyama-chan, this is a record of European serial killers, cults, and mercenary groups."

"What?!" Keina shrieked. "Why would a library stock a book like that?"

"Hell if I know, but that's what it is, s'got things like 'Charlotte' and 'Oktavia von Seckendorff' listed as killers under the cult 'Walpurgis Nacht', but no one's caught 'em yet, yeah? Oh, and then the book's got some kind divide down the middle,-" Otsuka was cut off by Shiroju.

"Did you say Walpurgis Nacht?" his face was pale.

"Yeah, apparently they used to think it was like one girl or somethin' that moved from city to city causing havoc in her wake." Otsuka paused, reading a bit more of the book. "She's killed thousands of people too, so people think she's more kinda like a cult now than just one person, but they seem to attack in large groups, or like mini-cults inside the big one."

"Right..." Shiroju's expression only got worse. Emiline must have picked up on this and she rushed to change the subject.

"Toshiko, you said another part of the book was different?" Everyone always seemed so uncomfortable when she called them by their given name; I wished she'd pick up on that first.

"Yeah, the parts about Walpurgis Nacht and the witches, that's what the members like to call themselves, that part's all in German." she flipped through the pages then stopped them with her thumb. "The next part, about mercenaries, it's all in French, and the pages look like they're glued in over the previous stuff." She turned a few more pages. "No it's got a Japanese section too, hmm, but it looks like these are, student profiles?" Everyone was getting unsettled, and Emiline struggled to break the silence again.

"Surely Toshiko can take the book with her to be able to translate in a more comfortable environment where everyone isn't staring at her." She suggested. "So let’s move on, there were other new places besides the library."

"Yeah, there were a lot more places to look," Tsuneo said. "Hensou-kun, did you find anything new in the warehouse after we left?"

"Um, not very much." Hensou said. "There was a display case in the back with a whole bunch of-" He caught himself and paused, but he didn't play it off well. "Um, things in it, and a whole bunch of disassembled machinery. Oh, should I mention any of the stuff we found before for anyone else?"

"I don't think it's that important." I stopped him before he could slip again. "All there really were, were parachuting supplies and other useless things." I winked at him to remind him not to say anything about the weapons.

"Riiiight, not much of interest." Hensou winked back. "Let's let someone else talk now, ha ha ha..." Silence hung in the air for a few seconds.

"I'm not sure anyone really would like to talk about what we found." Soushin said.

"I will do it then." Odori said. I had almost forgotten she could talk, she hadn't said a word all day, her voice was hoarse to show it, but she kept trying to talk in that particular tone she always kept. "Since no one else, seems capable." She coughed. "The three of us encountered quite the peculiar location. It was a greenhouse, and, it appeared shockingly similar to the place where we saw Kawada-san die." She paused and a lot of people took on frightened expressions. "However, beside that it seemed completely normal. I believe Ajiyama-san and Ajiyama-kun explored more in-depth, so they would know more than I."

"Well, we didn't find much." I said. "But there was something off about the sheds in the greenhouse."

"Yeah, one of them had a huge pile of scrap metal in the middle of it." Tsuneo mentioned.

"I was actually talking about something else." he looked confused. "There was an inconsistency in the materials stored in the shed. Everything was fully stocked and each bottle was full to the brim, except for the weed killer, and the acid wash wasn't new either. It was the same in every shed, I checked."

"Yes, yes, but was there anything else?" Emiline started rushing us in a sudden change of attitude. "Nothing? Good, I have to go." and she left, no one bothered to stop her, and everyone else stayed.

"I guess sh-she won't f-find out ab-bout the graveyard. "Matsuda said.

"It looks like everyone important who has died so far is buried there." Oshima mentioned. "Or at least a tombstone was placed and the dirt was stirred up."

"So, presumably," Shibou added. "If someone else were to die, another stone would show up."

"I guess so?" Oshima answered.

"But no one else is going to die!" I insisted. It was even hard for me to believe what I was saying. "I know it, we're all going to get out of here alive."

"I admire your positivity, Ajiyama-chan, but some of us can't say such foolish lies." his words were cold, yet somehow still filled with a gentle affection. Tsuneo spoke up before he, or anyone else, could continue.

"I think that's all then." he said. "I guess we can all go off on our own now, right?" In general people nodded and agreed, and the unofficial meeting disbanded. Even Tsuneo left, walking quickly to catch up with Soushin, it seemed. I was alone in the dining hall, but I could go find someone to hang out with. I decided to go to the garden, maybe I'd find someone there.

I wandered around aimlessly through the little brick pathways and tunnels covered in mysterious viney plants, but I stopped by a grove of lilac and pink roses. There were cherry blossom trees ahead, unseasonably covered in pink flowers. It was pretty, but I wasn't worried about it. Miyano was sitting on the edge of a planter box, so I went and talked to her.

"Hmmmmm" she sighed loudly. She was playing with her hoodie strings, which would be nothing for string if not for the knots preventing fraying.

"Is something wrong, Miyano-san?" I asked. She sighed again, slightly louder.

"I thought that coming here to see the flowers would cheer me up." She lamented. Her voice was melancholic, and it had a lower pitch than usual. "But instead it just makes me sad. I can't imagine how many more places will be ruined for me."

"I guess it is kinda sad." I admitted. "But there's not anything we can do now besides take life's challenges head on and make sure no one else dies, right?"

"I'm not sure." she said. "I guess I'm not made to think that way. Somebody once called me a blind optimist, and I didn't understand entirely what they meant by it then, but I do now. All my life I've been too busy noticing the good things to notice the bad. Even if the world was falling down around me, if one good thing happened I'd be fine. But now," she sighed yet again. "I can't just ignore what's happened. It only makes me feel worse if I do, but if I don't ignore it I still feel bad. I can't win. Nothing is working for me. I can't ignore that Kaisui-kun and Kawada-san are dead, but I just don't know what else to do." He voice had always stayed steady and under her control, but now it was shaky, wavering between different tones and levels of despair. She was crying, but it was dry and pained, like she had to be taught not to show emotion before. "I don't want to be an optimist any more. I want to be able to see the world as it is and deal with it, I, I just can't be happy today."

I had no idea how to comfort her, so I just sat with her and let her cry. Miyano Mamiko was broken, and she had chosen to let me see the shattered remains. We sat there for a while, and idly, I picked up one of the roses and started breaking off the thorns. I hummed a tune, but it wasn't very complex, I was sure I had heard it somewhere before. When I had finished what sounded like a verse Miyano joined in singing in a low whisper.

"Sakura sakura tree, your petals fall on me.  
When I was young, and now I am old,  
I've always loved the stories you told.

"Sakura Sakura ki, bara to tsubaki,  
Ayame ren, to yuri hana,  
Mina-san ganbatte hanasaku

"Sakura Sakura tree, your flower smells so sweet  
While roses are red, and violets are blue,  
You always seem to be the most true.

"Sakura sakura tree, you're always there for me,  
What has now passed, and what is to be,  
Anata ga watashi no tomodachi."

As she sang the song her voice got steadier, and she seemed happier. I didn't notice when, but the petals on the nearby cherry blossom trees had started to fall. I handed her the rose, and she put in in her hair, behind her ear.

"I didn't think you'd know that song." Miyano said. "Thank you though; it always cheers me up somehow to hear it."

"I don't think I did know it. I was just humming a tune." I admitted. "I did think I had heard it somewhere though."

"I do hum it a lot, it's one of my favorites." she smiled. "It's the ending theme to hanaki."

"Hanaki?" I asked. "What's that? You mentioned it in the library, but..."

"You don't know it?" She sounded surprised. "Haru no hana wa aki no shuukuku desu? No? A spring flower is the autumn harvest? really? I would have thought everyone would have at least heard of it. It was like, really popular a few years back, one of the first things I voiced, but most people consider it my debut. Not my favorite plot really, kind of boring, but the art and music was amazing, and it'll always be close to my heart." she sighed, different this time. "I don't know why, but I feel better now, and not like I'm just ignoring things any more. Thank you."

"I didn't do anything though." I replied.

"Still you were here, and I wouldn't have thought of that song on my own. Plus, you gave me a hecka awesome rose!" I felt like I got a lot closer to Miyano that day. We sat and talked for a while about little things until it was time for dinner.

Surprising everyone, Hensou cooked again. He looked very different from the guy I had come to know him as, it was confusing. He had first come off as jerkish and lewd, and kinda dumb as well, but when he was in the kitchen that melted away, almost as if it were fake.

"You're a really good cook, Hensou-chan!" Soushin laughed. "I can tell why Otsuka-chi is so in love with you now!" Otsuka, however, was not ready for such a joke it seemed, when she snapped back at Soushin.

"If you value your life outside of this hell then stop." she was shaking very slightly, and her eyes were bloodshot and strained. "You are not worthy to act so informally with me." I'm definitely not as good at psychoanalyzing as Tsuneo is, it's not even a hobby, but I asked him about this later.

Apparently she uses the holier-than-thou attitude in regard to her heritage whenever she feels uncomfortable in her situation in order to can some separation from the people around her.

That was definitely what was happening here, she was definitely uncomfortable, and she definitely didn't want to be here.

"Otsuka, please calm down." Hensou said. I thought it would've worked, but instead she started shouting.

"It's Otsuka-sama to you, trash!" her eyes were dead, it contradicted the fire in her voice. "Get the hell away from me; none of you are worth the presence of a Togami heir!" She hadn't mentioned that for so long, she was obviously uncomfortable, but we all knew Emiline never respected people's comfort.

"Oh, do tell, Toshiko, I've always wanted to hear the history behind your alleged heritage."

She held a jeering, prying tone. "The truth shouldn’t fall on your deaf ears." Otsuka snapped back. We were used to things Emiline said making people uncomfortable, but I'd never seen her tense up as quickly as she did. She was even paler than usual, if that were possible.

"H-how did you?" Emiline's eyes were wide with fear. She wasn't moving.

"Don't fucking talk to me." Otsuka said, her hands were still shaking, but she stood abruptly and left the hall, stomping on unsteady legs. I saw her leaning right to go up the stairs before the door slammed behind her.

"I h-have to go as well." Emiline stuttered. She left towards the left, and the exit. I knew I had to help them, I couldn't leave it alone, but there was no way I could get to both of them in time. I went to Emiline, Otsuka would have to wait.

I would've had to check everywhere, except there were boot-shaped footprints on the ground that seemed fresh. I followed them, they lead to the greenhouse, I heard a faint sound of metal working inside. This was the right place. I followed the noises to the one shed that had been different from the rest, the one that held the scrap metal. As expected, she was working with the pieces, soldering iron cutting out shapes.

"Emiline?" I called. She didn't answer at first. It was rather loud in there. I stepped closer with extreme precaution. Sparks were flying out behind her. I repeated her name, but she still didn't answer so I tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped a little, but she switched everything off, and turned towards me.

"Sorry, I couldn't hear you over all the noise." she said. "Why are you here?"

"You looked really distressed." I said. "I thought, maybe you could use someone to talk to, or to just sit with in silence, it's nice sometimes."

"Thank you, Masuyo," she said. "I'd rather just continue working, but you can stay if you wish." I did, and I sat down at what seemed to me a safe distance.

"What are you making?" I asked. The welder wasn't on now, she had a wrench in hand.

"I'm obligated not to tell you for legal reasons." She stated blankly. "It will only take a few days to complete I think. If I go quickly I think I can recreate the programming in time too."

"In time for what?" I asked.

"For the next murder of course." She stopped working and turned to face in my direction. "It's pretty obvious Toshiko has found something major, and if that information falls to the wrong hands, or if it already is, something undoubtedly will happen." She must have picked up on my worried look. "Don't worry I've already been spoiled, there's no reason I would kill to keep my secret."

"Then, what she said was true?" I asked.

"Hmmmm," she paused, thinking, "Not entirely? What she said was that I was deaf, and she did it in quite the insulting way, rude really. Anyways though, that's not completely true. I can hear under some circumstances, but they are very specific. I've had hearing aids since I was very young, but ever since we all came here they seem to have been displaced. I suppose it makes me an easy target." she sighed. "It is Toshiko though; I couldn't expect much of her reasoning skills, especially in such a state of mind."

I sat with her for the next few minutes in heavy silence.

"You don't have to pity me." She said. "I don't want you to, never speak of this to anyone, it's unimportant." I nodded in agreement. She tinkered with tiny screws and bolts, twisting them back and forth between her fingers. "In fact, since you're already here, can I ask you for help with something?"

"Sure," I said. "What do you need help with?"

"You tried to hide the secret of the warehouse." She said. I felt the blood drain from my face in fear. "Do you realize now with Otsuka knowing whatever it is she does, that's even more dangerous?" I couldn't think up the right words to apologize and I kept stuttering trying to explain myself. "I understand not wanting everyone to know of a huge stockpile of weaponry, but if you truly believed no one was going to kill anyone, if you truly trusted us, there should have been no issue with sharing. I am very disappointed with you, Masuyo." I thought about it for a second but before I could say a word she spoke up again. "Regardless, the supplies I would have access to there are more useful than those here, and I do hate moving everything back and forth as I have been, so will you help me move this all there? We can use a wheelbarrow or something."

She soon had already started loading things up without waiting for my answer, so I followed her. I was still a bit ashamed. It took us until after the nighttime announcement to finish, and we departed silently, but it looked to me as if she was going back to the warehouse instead of going back home towards the cabins.

Despite being awake, Tsuneo never questioned why I arrived late, which I appreciated. I went to sleep hungry, but I was okay with that.

END Chapter 2 Day 1


	9. Chapter Two: Puella Magi Masuyo Tragica: Day 2/3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These two days were really short so I smushed them together into one! Hope you don't mind! I've got to get more consistent in chapter length.

I woke up early as usual, but I was late to breakfast, as I wanted to make use of the shower after last night's work. Tsuneo had even shown up before I did. Hensou I would have thought had completely taken over cooking, but today, he had let Matsuda into the kitchen to make breakfast. She was proficient at more than just pancakes, apparently, and had made a smorgasbord of American breakfasts for us to eat. It was delicious. I ate more than I am proud of.

Otsuka was nowhere to be found. Hensou had no idea where she was either, she hadn't gone back to her cabin last night. Our unofficial rules had fallen to shit, and so soon too. She wasn't going to be found, she didn't want to be obviously, so we let her be, despite any implications in that action.

I had to spend the morning with someone, or pass the time doing something. I decided to go down the forest path, it was better than nothing.

In the little curve on the path before the greenhouse's clearing, I found Shiroju. He seemed to be inspecting the trees closely.

"Ah, Ajiyama-san!" He said when he saw me. "How are you, I was looking to see if I could find any gaps in the trees. Would you join me?"

I helped him look through the trees for a while, but we didn't find anything. It was disappointing really. We decided to rest on a small bench outside the greenhouse.

"That's quite sad actually," he said with a sigh. "I truly wish we would have been able to find something worthwhile, if not an exit, but there seems to be no escape."

"I'm sure we'll find a way out eventually." I said, albeit halfheartedly.

"I do hope so, you see unless those statements monokuma used as the motives were true, there is someone waiting for me." I gave him a weird look, but he laughed. "No, not someone in a romantic way really, a close friend though, a platonic soul mate maybe. We've been with each other for a long time, it makes me upset to not be able to work with her after all that time. It's funny too, there were a lot of other people I also worked with, but she was my favorite. She also uses firearms, but a different kind, but that's just a hobby for her, not a career. To be honest, I'm better than her, even though I haven't been doing it for so long as she has." He looked to the sky, and it was almost creepy, but not entirely.

"It's all because of what we wished for in the end." It almost looked like his eyes were darker than usual, like the light wasn't hitting them. I heard a snapping noise, like something had broken, but I didn't see anything. It felt eerie, like he needed to be alone, so I left. I ran into Otsuka while leaving. She ran off though, and didn't talk to me. I tried to go to the dining hall, but something stopped me.

That bear.

"Attention! Attention! Emergency! Emergency! Please gather at the dining hall as soon as possible! And by that, I mean now!"

My heart dropped in my chest.

But I went anyways.

I was one of the first people to arrive, but everyone got there eventually, even Otsuka, and when they did, he appeared. He was bright and cheery, and unenjoyably monochrome as usual.

I wanted him to die.

"Howdy, hi there! Everyone is here right? Good!" He didn't wait for a real response. "I'm here yo give you your new motive! You all are really boring most of the time, you know? This time the theme may be more familiar to you, but I can't be expected to come up with all the ideas, right? Anyways, it's secrets and embarrassing memories, blah, blah, blah. Now someone has come and ruined my fun by finding out everyone's secrets all for herself." Otsuka is in the back of the room, eyes darting from one person to the next. "So I'm gonna have to say, no mushy mushy confessions, it'll still be fun though, I promise! When isn't murder?" he laughs uproariously. "I will release all of the secrets to the world in three days if nothing happens! A time limit, you see? That's a bit interesting. Well then, have fun, your envelopes can be found on the floor, I trust you all not to steal, lest you receive punishment!" With that he threw a bundle of envelopes on the floor in a flurry of paper, and disappeared.  
Tentatively, we all went up and selected the single envelope with our name. Some opened theirs right away, some waited, but only what seemed to be a moment.

I was one of those who waited. I saw the fear on everyone's faces as they opened the envelopes one by one, Tsuneo even. I was terrified. I tore the end off carefully and slipped the paper out, but what I saw, I did not understand.

<Ajiyama Masuyo was never a student of Hope's Peak.>

I tore the paper up, because I didn't want to believe it. There might've been tears in my eyes. I didn't want it to be true. It couldn't be, it was another lie from monokuma, I knew it was.

But I couldn't remember.

The life I lived was in chaos again, all thanks to that damned bear.

 

Everyone left. I almost bolted back to my cabin, but once there, I didn't want to stay. I needed to move, needed to keep my mind off of things, so I left. No one had talked to Otsuka at all for a long time, so I tried my best to find her. I went to the Library, where she had been hiding previously.

She was nowhere to be found. Where I expected her to be, was my Hope's Peak History book, torn up and written all over with papers nearby similarly scrawled upon.

I didn't know why I bothered to look through it.

Everything was in foreign languages in the book, and Otsuka's handwritten notes made it even harder to read. The graphics were gory and bloody, but black and white. I had to assume this was the section about Walpurgis Nacht. From what I could tell it was German, lots of weird markings above the letters and strange combinations of consonants. I couldn't read it. Or rather, I shouldn't have been able to, but luckily there were scribbled notes in the margins.

"Walpurgis Nacht- terrorist group; members call themselves witches. Each victim has an exotic symbol carved somewhere into their body, differing between the subdivisions of the cult. Members scattered across globe. When finding other members, tend not to get along much, friendships are rare, alliances not so much. Witches also known to wear extravagant outfits while 'hunting' and each individual uses a specialized weapon. Those under the same subdivisions use similar weapons, but those in alliances seem to differ. They claim to fight for hope, but when the Tragedy happened they quickly joined the side of des-"

The rest of the notes and the text were scratched out. It was done in the same color ink as what the notes were written in, Otsuka must not have wanted anyone to read it. There weren't any notes on any of the other groups. Fenrir mercenary corps, the pages were completely clean. I still couldn't read the French. I couldn't tell anything about "Genocide Jack" or "Shining Justice" either, who both had extensive files in the book.

I tried looking for the student files, maybe they were why Otsuka had been acting so weird, having read them, but they were just, gone. The binding was exposed and the pages were all torn out completely. This wasn't how they were before. Otsuka had done something. I feared she was going to do something else much worse.

I took the book with me when I left. Letting Otsuka keep it and continue reading it would lead to no good. I went back to my cabin and slept with it under my pillow.

I was afraid.

END DAY 2

Day 3:

I woke up quickly and early. I wanted to sleep more and forget the events of the previous day, forget everything. I couldn't forget, I just couldn't. It was the opposite problem of what I had faced until then.

With overwhelming lethargy I rolled out of bed. I did not want to be here. I did not want to be awake. I wanted to be dead.

Wait.

No I didn't.

With a somewhat increased fervor I got dressed and left, disregarding the time. It was four am. I broke the nighttime rule, but I didn't care, I wasn't the first.

I was headed to the graveyard, I realized once I had arrived. I pushed the creaky gate open and stepped inside. I was not alone.

"Why are you here?" Matsuda asked. She did not turn around. She was in front of the same two graves she occupied first only two days ago. They both had fresh flowers. Those by Kawada's grave had already wilted. "No, actually, I don't give a shit, get out."

"Matsuda, I-" she didn't let me finish.

"No, get out, and don't think you can be so informal with me." I noticed a second name newly inscribed underneath her father's on the gravestone. This one was in Japanese.

"Matsuda Ayame" was all it said. I figured I should leave, and I did. I saw Matsuda crying as I turned and left.

I hated monokuma.

I hated this world.

Most of all I hated the person who put us here.

I moved to leave the forest path, in favor of gaining my senses and sleeping some more, but I heard something in the warehouse.

The brilliant red letters looked down on me in disdain as I entered silently. At first, I thought the one awake would be Emiline, and I tip-toed over to the spot where we had moved her things to. It was no longer a pile of scrap, but a selection of robotic body parts which looked more like a crime scene than a workshop. Emiline, however, was nowhere to be found. I continued looking, and followed my ears to find a shooting range deep within the labyrinth of the warehouse.

With only a glance, I saw Shiroju on the range, a pile of ammo to one side, and one of different styles of muskets on the other. The later, thankfully, was slightly more organized.

Suddenly the situation I was currently in hit me. Snooping around between four and five in the morning is very suspicious activity for anyone. As quietly as I had entered, I left again, back illuminated in a bloody hue. I went back to my cabin. Tsuneo was still asleep, and I tried to fall asleep as well.

I lay silently awake until the morning announcement.

I went to greet everyone in the dining hall. Nobody spoke. They all looked as exhausted as I felt. Many finished their food quickly and left at the first opportunity. I was one of them.

In the store I had gotten a handheld console called the "funplane" from the vending machine, and a game. I tried to play it, but for some reason my fingers wouldn't hit the buttons without an extreme delay. I failed the same stage about twenty times before giving up and rolling over in bed. I still could not sleep.

This was despair.

I woke up at eleven to find I had fallen asleep. I did not remember doing so. I got up and ate something absentmindedly, which I don't quite remember either, maybe it was a Styrofoam cup. I left again.

My clothes were rumpled and my hair a mess. I did not care. I was far too tired to care. I hadn't realized where I was going until I got there.

The bright red neon sign stared down on me again as I entered the place for the second time that morning.

I wandered through the aisles of explosives and weapons of war without aim, without knowing where I was going and I then I stopped.

I did not know what I was looking at.

It took me a few seconds to realize I was screaming.

END Chapter 2 Daily Life.  
12 Students remain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry if the image quality is awful from now on, but I use tumblr to host my images, and I'm not sure if I want to bother making an account elsewhere or even worry about it. You can still see what's happening anyways.  
> Also, I can't draw guns.


	10. Chapter Two: Puella Magi Masuyo Tragica: Deadly Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much, albeit belatedly for 666 hits! Hail Walpurgis Nacht.  
> And also thank you for the 750 hits that we passed last night while I was sleeping!  
> I will be doing my best from now on to do semi-regular updates every friday/saturday.

You hear the sound of Masuyo screaming for the second time in a long regrettable week.

You are going to kill whoever put you in here when you get out.

You find yourself running to find her again. Hiniwa is running just a bit behind you apparently, and you still hate his guts, but you'll take anyone's help right now.

You end up inside the warehouse when you find her, and as the three of you stand there, the body discovery announcement plays, twice.

"A body has been discovered! After a brief period of investigation the class trial will commence!"

"A body has been discovered! After a brief period of investigation the class trial will commence!"

Under other circumstances, the repetition might have been strange, but seeing the cause with your own eyes changes things.

"I'll- I'll go get everyone." Masuyo says. "Even with the announcement, no one will know where it is." You can tell her throat is hurting her from screaming just by looking at her, and hearing her dry words. She leaves to go get everyone, and you're left there with Hiniwa.

You thank any gods out there when Shiroju shows up and breaks the silence.

"More people are dead?" he sounds scared. "Oh no, oh no, this is bad. What happens if the killer decides to kill all of us? They've already managed to get two."

"Don't worry about that!" monokuma appears without warning, and you jump nearly out of your skin. "It's a rule that no more than two people can be murdered at the same time! So no one else will die at least until the end of the class trial! Upupupu, well, I'm sorry I can't greet all of you, but since I'm here anyways, here's the monokuma file, be sure to let everyone else see it too!" He leaves rather suddenly, and you're glad for that, but you wish that he hadn’t even appeared in the first place.

You read through the file. It's a bit longer than the last time, but probably only due to there being two victims.

"<Monokuma File 2>

Victim #1: Otsuka Toshiko  
Time of Death: Around 10 o'clock a.m.  
Place of Death: Monokuma Military Surplus Warehouse  
Cause of Death: Gunshot to the head.  
Other Details: Death was instant. She suffered numerous other gunshot wounds across her body.

Victim #2: Emiline Grangerford  
Time of Death: Around 10 o'clock a.m.  
Place of Death: Monokuma Military Surplus Warehouse  
Cause of Death: Gunshot to the heart.  
Other Details: Death was instant. She has a single knife wound in her shoulder."

[Monokuma File 2 has been added to the truth bullets]

"Well, this is strange." Shibou says; you didn't see him walk in.

"What is?" you ask.

"He gave us a surprisingly large amount of detail in the file. Nothing is left blank."

"Wouldn't that be a good thing?"

"Not at all, it means none of this information is probably important to the case. So there's either a whole lot of other evidence to find, or there's jack shit." You aren't used to Shibou cursing, it's a shock, but you guess he has the right to be angry.

Masuyo comes back with everyone, well, almost everyone.

"Matsuda-san didn't want to look at the dead bodies again." she says. "I don't blame her, but will that be okay?"

"It will be fine." Odori says. "Oshima-san, I assume you will be helping me to guard the bodies again?"

"Huh? Oh, right." Oshima is quieter than he was when you first met him, more passive maybe, he hasn't been talking much at all, but he'll be perfect for guard duty.

Hensou walks in late. You dread the fact that you cannot plug your ears in time to block out the scream he releases almost immediately.

"Otsuka... sama?" You can tell he's surprised. "Who did this?!" he shouts. "I'll kill the bastard! Tell me now! Who did this?!"

"Calm down, you imbecile." Shibou says. "The best you could do to avenge her is help in the investigation, or at least not hinder it with such moronic screaming."

Hensou looks taken aback.

"Right, sorry, Shibou-san, I forgot, I wasn't the only one to lose someone this time." He backs off and doesn't speak again. Shibou looks annoyed at the idea he might've actually cared for Emiline.

"I'll inspect the bodies for anything monokuma missed." He says. "Or that he refuses to tell us."

Everyone's in their places then, you guess, so you get to investigating. Masuyo is standing nearby.

"Ah, Tsuneo, have you found any good clues yet?" she asks.

"No, I haven't got a chance to look at much yet, have you got anything?" you say. "Maybe a suspicious person, or something about the victims?"

"Well, I'm not sure if it counts as suspicious, but I couldn't sleep last night and I went for a walk around 4 am. I saw some people."

"That definitely sounds important, Masuyo. You should have told me."

"Well sor-ry, do you want to hear the information or not?" You stop talking. "I first left towards the graveyard, I found Matsuda there, but on my way back, I heard noises in the warehouse, so I went to investigate, and I found Shiroju on a shooting range that's somewhere in here, definitely a suspicious place at least."

[Masuyo's Account has been added to the truth bullets]

"Actually this whole thing is suspicious, isn't it? Do you remember the promise we made?" she asks.

"Huh? What promise?"

"When we first discovered the warehouse, you, Otsuka, Hensou, and I agreed not to tell anyone about all of the weapons inside. Emiline found out by looking here herself, but no one should have known."

[Warehouse Secret has been added to the truth bullets]

"Then the obvious suspect is Hensou, right?" you ask.

"I don't think that's the case, no." she answers. "You'll have to look deeper than that. Oh, and there was that one other thing, you asked about the victims, right?"

"Yes, Otsuka was acting suspicious, right? Maybe if Hensou's not a suspect, he can let us into their cabin to investigate?"

"Not only that, but there was a specific thing about Emiline that might be important to the investigation, I'm sure you noticed."

"Could you mean, the way she spoke?" you ask.

"Exactly!" she exclaims. "She always called everyone by their given name, you know, in English order."

"I just meant her southern accent." you admit.

"Well that too, yeah, but that only further proves the fact that she always acted very American. I don't think that will be too important, just the names part."

[Emiline's speaking quirk has been added to the truth bullets]

"Right, I'll keep that in mind, thank you for your help, Masuyo."

"No problem, bro!" You turn away from her and go to investigate what else you can.

Working around Shibou, you look at the bodies yourself.

You see a smear of blood by Emiline's right hand, and at first glance, it doesn't look very important, but with a closer look, you make out what seems to be two letters.

"K S" you don't know what it means, but you take note of it anyways. It could be a vital clue.

[Dying Message has been added to the truth bullets]

There's a gun in Otsuka's hand. Shiroju notices you looking at it and decides to impart some expertise on the subject.

"It's a standard nine millimeter hand gun." He says. "I think I saw some other similar ones somewhere in here. It looks like she shot herself."

[Nine Millimeter has been added to the truth bullets]

"Thanks" you say, and you return to the bodies.

The monokuma file was right; there are many other wounds on Otsuka's body. You don't know what they could mean though. Emiline also does have a shoulder wound of some sort.

Shibou calls you over.

"Honestly, if you wanted to know something about the bodies, you could have just waited for me." He sounds so done. "Listen, look at this," He lifts Otsuka's head up gently to get a view on the back of the neck. A strange symbol is carved into the skin there.

"What is that?" you ask.

"That is why I asked you, I don't know either. It could be a calling card to a serial killer, they often use things such as this, but you should take note, this will come up later."

"Sure, I will."

[Strange Symbols has been added to the truth bullets]

"And along the lines of the other wounds, there's something interesting about Otsuka's gunshot wounds."

"And what would that be?" you ask.

"Shh, don't interrupt." Shibou says. "Anyways, the wounds all over her body were inflicted post mortem, and the gunshot wound in her head was not made by the gun in her hand, but I don't know what kind of gun did do it, so don't ask me."

"What about Emiline?"

"Oh, right, her." Shibou says, reluctant. "She also has a mark on the back of her neck, and her shoulder wound was inflicted before she died. I'm pretty sure the only important thing is that she died almost definitely after Otsuka."

[Shibou's Body Analysis has been added to the truth bullets]

You think you're done with the bodies, and Shibou doesn't look like he's in the mood for casual conversation about anything else. There was something suspicious in the shooting range, you should look there. Through excessive searching, you find the place. It looks simple, barely ever used, except for a few things, a bloody knife on the floor, an organized pile of guns, and a used target with bullet holes gathered all in the center.

The knife definitely looks like it was used to cut Emiline's shoulder, not very interesting, actually.

[Knife in the shooting range has been added to the truth bullets]

You check out the guns. Most of the have military type logos on the handles, or somewhere, and are pretty bland, plain metal, non decorative surfaces, but one catches your eye.

A beautiful, white and silver musket, with the name "Shiroju Katsuro" built into the filigrees and decoration.

Very important.

[White gun has been added to the truth bullets]

It doesn't look like much is left here, so you go to talk to Hensou in hopes of investigating Otsuka's things for evidence.

"Huh? Oh, sure." He's heartbroken, anyone could tell, crying in a corner, his face is covered in tears. "I guess I can come with you." He walks alongside you to the Gold Team Cabin, right next to yours. He's still sniffling. His hands are shaking as he unlocks the door, but it swings open without the creak the ambiance would suggest need for. He ushers you inside ahead of himself.

The inside of their cabin is nearly the same as yours, with different colored decorations, gold instead of green, as well as additional furniture, which includes what looks like a fireman's pole that's missing the hole in the ceiling.

You go to the desk that would have been Masuyo's in your cabin, but which instead is Otsuka's here. It's very neat, and missing the little black notebook you see Masuyo writing in so often, (She’s running out of pages, she’ll need a new one soon, you remind yourself to look for one in the store) but there's an envelope in its place. You recognize it, you got a similar one yourself with a little lie inside that you've somehow managed to block from your memory. You slide this one open, it could be important, and she's dead, what will she care? The paper flutters out, torn apart, but taped back together.

"Otsuka Toshiko is lying about her talent; she's actually the Super High School Level-"

The rest is torn off, the one piece still missing from the tape-laminated mess of a piece of paper. There's no way this motive wouldn't have affected her.

You thank the still crying Hensou, who is lying against the fireman's pole, and start to leave, but before you can make it outside...

"Attention students, the investigation period is now over! Please make your way to the stage in the dining hall and stand by for the class trial!" The screen buzzes out again, and even Hensou gets up and starts making his way.

Monokuma greets the twelve of you there and opens the doors. Once you all enter it drops, as sudden as the investigation was, but it still takes a long while to get there. The small room is shaking with every slight movement, but you take the time to close your eyes and think.

It's time for the class trial.

END Chapter 2 Deadly Life  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can anyone tell who the culprit is? Leave a comment if you think you do! You never know if you may be right!


	11. Chapter Two: Puella Magi Masuyo Tragica: Class Trial

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lots of images today, and severe suicide mention on one of them. Be safe guys!

The doors to the elevator seem to open slower than the previous time. You wish they had been even slower when they finally do open, because you feel blinded by the surroundings. Purple and gold adorn the walls by checkerboard pattern, in memoriam of the two that died this time around. Red curtains hang on every other wall of the hexagonal room. It almost seems like some grand theater, set to display a story of rival clans set in combat indefinitely. A war of gold and obsidian, and of old foes finally surmounting to their final battle.

You feel like one of many soldiers heading into that battle, and each of the remaining twelve warriors alongside you man their stations. There are three more photo stands up, Otsuka, Emiline, and Kawada. They look so much happier than their final faces which were seen before death.

Monokuma calls everyone to order, not that there was much talking going on in the first place, and the trial begins again.

"Let's begin with an extremely basic explanation of the class trial! So, your votes determine the results! Make sure you pick the right candidate! I'm sure you all know the consequences of your actions by now, so let's get started! Your free handy-dandy starting topic is the cause of death! It should be nearly the same for both victims!"

"It was the gunshot wounds, right?" Miyano asks. "Even the monokuma file said that. Emiline had one to the heart and Otsuka-san had one to the head."

"Th-the killer probably brought a gun with them and used it to shoot them, right?" Matsuda suggested. "There's n-nowhere here th-that they could h-have gotten one."

"I don't think that's the case at all, Matsuda-san," you say. "There was something about the warehouse, you would have known if you had just stepped inside. It's full of military grade weaponry."

"W-what? Why would they build something l-like that in a r-r-resort site?"

"Who knows why? All that matters is that anyone could have done it." Keina says. "We're pretty much at square one, what a bullshit starting topic that was."

"It's okay, you didn't know, Matsuda-san," Masuyo says. "You couldn't explore the crime scene."

"Don't talk so fucking condescending to me!" Matsuda shouts. "I'm not a god damned idiot!"

"You still did absolutely nothing useful." Shibou says. "Too bad you're not the only one."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Oshima counters.

"Only six people did anything at all helpful pertaining to this case, and that includes the two who died."

"Maybe, um, instead of getting mad about it, those six people should actually try to solve the case?" Masuyo says.

"I like that idea!" Miyano agrees. "But what is there to start with, monokuma's idea was totally useless!"

"What about the nine millimeter in Otsuka-sama's hand?" Hensou suggests. "It's got to be the murder weapon, I'm sure of it!"

"Are you really so sure?" You ask.

"Of course I am! The gun was right there, she died from a gunshot wound. She must have... shot herself."

"No, that's wrong." you say. "Shibou can tell you the same. The wound in Otsuka's head was not the right shape and size to be shot by that gun."

"Then, why does she have that one in her hand?"

"The culprit was probably trying to confuse us." Shiroju proposes. "How fiendish of them."

"Then, what was used to kill her?" Soushin asks. "There were other guns in the warehouse, right?"

"It most likely was one of those." Shibou comments. "It won't lead us anywhere to find out which one though. If it actually came from the warehouse itself, then it won't have any connection to the culprit."

"Damn." Keina curses. "We aren't getting anywhere."

"Well I still think Otsuka's death was a suicide." Soushin says. "Maybe someone else tampered with the crime scene. It wouldn't have been the first time someone sick like that existed."

"There's a problem with that though, Soushin-san," you say.

"Still so formal!" She laughs. You continue disregarding the interruption.

"The other wounds on Otuska's body, there's no way she inflicted them on herself."

"M-maybe she was sick." Matsuda says. "Y-you know, like crazy people h-have self-mutilated themselves before dying before, right?"

"No, that's not it either," you say. "Those wounds were inflicted post mortem, in other words, after she died. She couldn't have made them herself."

"She still could have killed herself!" Keina insists. "That other person, the one who messed with the crime scene, they dealt the other wounds or something."

"Her death would be so tragic then," MIyano says.

"I just don't know why," Hensou says, "Why she would..."

"I'm telling you, that's not it!" you yell. No one is listening. "If Otsuka killed herself, then who killed Emiline?!"

"Right, Emiline died too..." Hensou admits. A few people take a moment to look at the stand next to Shibou where her face is displayed. You are not one of them.

"Maybe, Otsuka-san did it?" Miyano suggests. "She was there, she killed Emiline, and then died herself, somehow..."

"I'm surrounded by idiots." Shibou complains. "I can't believe it wasn't so obvious to everyone else."

"What the hell is this prick yapping about?" Matsuda shouts.

"You aren't making any sense!" Soushin follows.

"That's right, Otsuka couldn't have killed Emiline," you say, and you think for a moment. "Otsuka died before Emiline, and considering they both died instant deaths, that makes it impossible for Otsuka to have dealt the final wound."

"And if you look at the wound in Emiline's chest," Hensou says. "It would have been ridiculous for her to have made it herself."

"Leave it to y-you to be starting at girl's chests." Matsuda says. "Even after they die."

"Hey!"

"That means," Masuyo hesitates. "The killer is actually here?"

"Yes indeedy!" Monokuma speaks up, and he catches you off guard. "Did you really think you'd be able to get away from this trial without another one of my spectacular death scenes?" He cackles at full volume. "But here, I'll give you a hint, since you hated my help near the beginning soooo much. You'll find out eventually anyways, and getting to it would be just as boring. There's only one killer, yup, one person killed the both of 'em, I hate it lots and lots when two killers try to work together!" With that, he shut up.

"The same person, k-killed both of them?" Matsuda whimpers. "They m-must be insane or something."

"What was going on in the killer's head doesn't matter at this point." Hiniwa says. You almost forgot he _could_ speak, it was weird. "What does matter is who the killer is, if we find that out, then we can ask them firsthand for their reason why."

"How are we supposed to do that though?" Shiroju asks. "There just aren't any clues left to follow."

"There are plenty of clues!" Masuyo insists. "At least, I think."

"But there's nothing to start on. We're back at the beginning, looking for clues that don't exist." Miyano complains. "We don't know much more than the fact the killer wasn't a victim."

"Well," Shibou says. "There is one more thing the bodies may teach us, or more, but let's focus on that one thing first, Emiline's shoulder wound."

"What's so goddamn important about that?" Matsuda asks.

"It was not made by the final killer, but the first culprit." He explains.

"Huh?" Oshima looks confused. "But I thought monokuma himself said that there was only one culprit."

"He said solely that there existed a single killer." Odori says, her voice is even, but you can see her shaking. "The difference between those two words is in reality, immeasurable."

"But what is the difference?" Hensou asks.

"A culprit is someone who commits a crime, or intends to murder, in this case." Hiniwa says. "A killer is someone who succeeds."

"What?!" Miyano screams. "How could you even tell that?"

"To my estimate," Shibou says. "Emiline's shoulder wound and Otsuka's fatal wound happened at nearly the exact same time."

"No one could have done both of those at the same time." Shiroju says. "When you consider the positions of the bodies, it's impossible, unless someone here has been concealing an incredible throwing knife skill level, 800 or higher..."

"Then, who cut Emiline's shoulder?" Miyano asks. "If it wasn't the killer, I mean."

"It was probably Otsuka," you say. "If you think about it, had someone else done it, they would have seen the killer, and I doubt they would keep quiet about that in favor of their own death being made a possibility."

"Then, Otsuka-sama tried," Hensou whispers. "She tried to kill Emiline?"

"She had the motive." You say. "You should have seen it too, her secret."

"Then, you mean..."

"Otsuka Toshiko was not the Super High School Level Translator." You say. The room falls silent. "She had been lying about her talent, and it could have been enough to kill over."

"It was more than just that." Masuyo says. "Otsuka was acting very strange, even before the announcement of the motive. I happened to find out why, and I'm sorry for not telling, but I don't think anyone else would've either." She takes a breath, readying herself. "The 'Hope's Peak History Book', the one filled with things that didn't really have to do with Hope's Peak. She translated some of it, and the result of just that was a bit frightening, but she ripped out the student files."

"Upupupu, she sure found something spec-ta-cu-lar there!" Monokuma exclaims. "She wouldn't be able to trust any of you brats after what she saw in those files! Did you know? Emiline Grangerford helped to make the beautiful me!"

"What are you talking about?!" Oshima shouts.

"We knew Emiline, she wouldn't do anything like that at all!" Miyano claims.

"Oh, but she did!" Monokuma insists. "Who else but the Super High School Level Robotics Engieneer could manufacture someone quite this divine!"

"Stop it." Masuyo says. The room falls silent, but monokuma gives her a questioning look and a hum. "Whether or not what he's saying is truth or a lie, we don't need to be doubting Emiline right now, after all, she gave us a vital clue to the culprit."

"She gave us a clue?" Odori asks. "What clue do you speak of?"

"It was her message, she left one for us and it points directly to the killer." Masuyo elaborates. "I can't be the only one who noticed it."

"No, I saw it too." You say. "Two letters, written in blood, right next to her right hand. She probably wrote them before the culprit killed her."

"What were the letters though?" Soushin asks. "How could they point to the culprit?"

"K S" Masuyo says. "Probably the killer's initials."

"Then, that would be..." Shiroju pauses halfway through his sentence. "Keina Sora!"

"What?!" Keina shouts. "How did this end up on me? I didn't do it!"

"Truly a fiend you are." Shiroju continues. "Someone capable of killing someone, no, two people, is someone deserving of fear."

"No, you're wrong, Shiroju." You say. "K S does not stand for Keina Sora. Xe didn't do it."

"Then, who did?" Miyano asks.

"Seriously, what else could KS stand for?" Oshima comments.

"Maybe Kawada Suzume, or Kaisui Sadao,  they came back to avenge their deaths!" Hensou suggests.

"Ghosts don't exist, you idiot." Matsuda says. "People can't come back from the dead, it had to be Keina, xyr name is the only one it could stand for."

"You're all wrong!" Keina shouts, genuinely upset. "I, I didn't do it, I couldn't kill them!"

"I'm going to have to agree with Keina." Masuyo says. Xe looks to her in surprise. "KS is someone else's initials. It becomes clear if you remember the one thing Emiline always did, it's hard to forget."

"What do you mean by this?" Odori asks.

"Emiline did something, strange, when she spoke to, or about us," you say. "She called everyone by their given names, no matter how close we were, or how uncomfortable it made us."

"Rude, really." Shibou says.

"Still, if the actual order the rest of us would use is SK, then the killer is obvious." You say. "It's you, Shiroju."

"I guess I should have expected you would suspect me." He says, rather calmly for someone accused of murder. "Although, I thought it would be more connected to the gun littered crime scene than to a random blood splatter."

"Are you absolutely sure he did it?" Miyano asks. "You mentioned earlier, only five people should have known about the weapons in the warehouse, and Shiroju wasn't one of them."

"Exactly, you see, I couldn't even have done it." Shiroju agrees, almost conveniently. "I did only bring one gun with me here, and it was a musket."

"That's not right, Shiroju-kun." Masuyo says. "You would have known about the warehouse, I saw you there myself, this very morning."

"You what?" Shiroju trembles, as if losing his footing.

"It's true," you say. "Between four and five am this morning, Masuyo couldn't sleep, and she found you on the shooting range in the warehouse. The very same white musket I found with your name incorporated into the decorations, the one you just mentioned, confirms that she wasn't just seeing things."

"That still doesn't confirm any connection to the murder, if it happened then."

"The survival knife used to cut Emiline's shoulder being found there is also very suspicious, isn't it?" You say. "You could have easily stashed it there."

"It's a coincidence!" Shiroju insists.

"There's a vital clue you're all overlooking." Shibou says. His voice seems unaffected by the current circumstance. "The very first thing I showed you on the bodies, tell me it didn't seep out of your brain in that short a time."

_No._ You think. _I do remember it, but what does it have to do with the case?_

"Are you talking about, the small marks carved into the backs of their necks?" you ask. "They seem important, but I don't see how they could possibly prove Shiroju as the culprit."

"Wait." Masuyo says. "Did you say that they were _carved_ into the neck? Ohnonononono, this isn't good, it's no good at all."

"What's the matter, Ajiyama-chan?" Shiroju jeers, in a sudden alteration of character. His tone of voice is completely different from how it was before.

"The culprit... is a member of Walpurgis Nacht." She says, it sounds like a struggle just to get the words out. "He's a witch!"

"So, what are you gonna do?" Shiroju asks. "Burn me? Boil me in a pot? I'm glad you figured out the mystery at least before blindly killing me."

"Why are you admitting to the crime?" Miyano asks. "Who are you?"

"I'm still the same person, Shiroju Katsuro, but I've evolved now!" He laughs. It shakes the room, or it only feels like it does. "Don't worry, this isn't even my final form!"

"You've finally decided to show your true face." Hiniwa says. "The boss battle can actually begin now."

"Ohohoho! So you want me to explain myself? Why I did it?" Shiroju exclaims. "I'll tell you now, the motive was a reason, but in the end, it was more of a spur of the moment thing!"

"He's insane, Matsuda-san was right." Hensou says. "Just... Just tell us why you killed Otsuka-sama!"

"I did it, for hope!" Shiroju laughs. "You see, your assumption about Otsuka being the true culprit was right on the mark! Absolutely correct! I just so happened to be in the warehouse when I saw Otsuka come up behind Emiline, with a knife no less! I called Emiline's name, but alas, she did not hear me, so I had no choice but to pull out my gun and shoot the predator to save her, but not before a fatal wound was dealt to the prey! I couldn't leave the job unfinished with her in agony, or leave the danger of Emiline surviving and betraying the very person who saved her, so I killed her too! But not before they both suffered for the despair they caused this world."

"Stop it." Masuyo says. "Stop trying to confuse us as to what despair and hope really are. We deserve our own definitions. The Emiline we knew, the you we knew, you were both good people. Stop trying to make us think otherwise."

"I'll shut up." Shiroju bargains. "If you promise to give my case that same perfect ending as Kawada-san’s!"

"Right." You say. "I'll take care of this."

~

<Closing Argument>

A few days ago, when Otsuka was reading our student files, she found out dangerous secrets about all of us, and yesterday, when her own secret was threatened release, she couldn't leave it to chance. She had to hatch the perfect plan, she set to work immediately.

Meanwhile, Masuyo saw Shiroju in the warehouse shooting range, none the wiser of what relevance that place would hold in just a few hours.

So later, Otsuka waited out with a survival knife she had found in the warehouse, until Emiline came by, and attempted to strike, but before she could even deal a second wound, the true killer shot directly at her head, and she died an instant death.

Because of the wound she sustained, Emiline wasn't going to live long unless she received immediate emergency care. Seeing this, the culprit covered their tracks, and shot her as well, but not before she could leave a message for the survivors. Feeling as if Otsuka hadn't suffered enough for her murderous actions, the culprit shot her corpse numerous other times.

After they had finished the actual act of killing, the culprit went about disguising their crime, but not before they left their calling card, probably on instinct, a small mark carved into the skin of both victims, but they hid it on the back of their necks.

The culprit took a gun from nearby, a regular nine millimeter, and planted it as false evidence in Otsuka's hand, to make it look like she had killed herself. They took the actual gun they had used, and the chosen weapon of Otsuka, and hid them in the shooting range, which would have been a very difficult location to locate had you not been there before yourself beforehand.

Having completed their hasty crime, the culprit waited until they heard Masuyo's scream and returned to the crime scene in order to try and deceive us further during the investigation.

It's clear to me now, the culprit is you!

Shiroju Katsuro!

~

"Hahahahahaha!" Shiroju laughs. "I can barely believe it, a mere mortal has uncovered my schemes!"

"Shiroju, stop." Masuyo says.

"You want me to stop?" He yells. "Because I can stop, watch me!" Shiroju lifts his left arm, the one always covered, and as he does, the cape which had been hiding it the whole time falls, to reveal a beautiful revolver. It's white and silver, the same as the one in the shooting range, but smaller, and shaped differently, of course. He's still laughing under shaky breath, but everyone else holds expressions of horror.

The gun is pointed at his head, and he takes a deep breath, smiles,

and he shoots.

The sound of the gunshot rings in the courtroom. He has fallen to the floor and monokuma is laughing excitedly, but then he gets up.

It's slow and uncoordinated, like his joints are all popping back into place. He's on his legs, standing as before he shot, but his arm is uncovered at his side now.

"Wait, you weren't supposed to do that!" Monokuma shouts. "Why aren't you dead?"

"It must have been a blunt." Shibou gapes, trying to make sense of things. "It must have been, it must have, it must-"

"What, you don't believe in magic?" Shiroju asks. "It's what I wished for, or a byproduct I think." His voice has lost the maniacal tone, and now sounds more human.

"I don't have any idea what you're talking about!" Monokuma complains. "And I'm pretty sure no one else does either, you're talking to the wrong fan base here!"

"Are you disappointed?" Shiroju asks, directly to monokuma. "I thought you'd be excited, you still get to execute me!"

"Do you really mean that!" Monokuma says. It's not really a question. "Alrighty then, everyone's ready? Hurry up and vote so we can move onto the super duper heart pounding punishment! Just use those control panels, yeah?"

The vote is silent until the confetti falls again, and you're reminded of how much you despise monokuma.

"Yeah, there was pretty much no way you guys weren't gonna vote that wrong!" Monokuma laughs. "So, I've prepared an extra special execution for Super High School Level Musketeer, Shiroju Katsuro! It's punishment time!"

"May goddess Madoka bless you all." Shiroju says, as monokuma carries him away.

The screen starts up again.

~

{Mahou Shonen Showdown}

The scene opens with Shiroju walking through an eerie building. It looks like a theater, but it's completely empty. The curtains are drawn closed.

As if hearing something, Shiroju whips out another musket from seemingly nowhere, and shoots down the rigging that holds the curtain up.

It falls all at once with a crash, to reveal a giant monokuma, with marionette-style limbs, floating gently up and down. There are other doll-like ill-proportionate puppets at its side. A glint catches in the eyes of one of them. It seems to be brought to life, and lunges forward, off stage, at Shiroju.

It carries a knife in its hand, and has tangled fluorescent blue hair, which sticks out like a sore thumb in the dark theater.

Shiroju avoids the preliminary attack easily, but the doll lunges again. He jumps swiftly to the side and upward, but the knife grazes him.

It bleeds for only a second. In almost a freeze stand still, a gun appears midair and shoots the doll. It falls to the ground with a thud. Instead of laying there like any usual corpse, it explodes with a burst of pink, leaving a large stain.

Before Shiroju can breathe, two more of the dolls come to life at once. One with black spirals of hair where pigtails would be, and eyes of pure greed throws like looks to be an orb of pure fire, which barely misses Shiroju, and sets the seating nearby aflame.

The other, with a fable sweet smile and foot long claws where her fingers would be, takes to the ground, running at top speed towards Shiroju. He evades the attack again, narrowly stepping out of the way, and the seat behind him receives deep scars in his place.

Another fireball hits the chair and the fire is spreading quickly. A curtain on a side wall catches on fire and burns until naught but ashes remain.

Running and dashing and chasing. The clawed doll traps Shiroju in a corner, surrounded by burning seating, with the greed-jaded doll ready to strike. Her hair is now on hire, and she looks even more devilish with the paint on her face melting away.

It seems as if he's done for, but right before either of the dolls move, he brings his arm up, crossed, and duel wielding twin muskets. He shoots, both at once, and two more pink stains are left in the theater.

As soon as the two dolls are out of the way, Shiroju takes a mad dash towards the stage, towards the giant monokuma. He doesn't even bother to look at the last two puppets, one shooting out gauze-like ribbon from a first aid kit, and the other with a bat and a bamboo sword in either hand. Two more stains are left.

Despite its guards having been defeated, the monokuma does not take to action. It continues to sit and endure every shot Shiroju sends to it, as if it's waiting for something.

Shiroju pulls out yet another gun, from nowhere, this one is considerably bigger than the rest, and he fires. All that is seen is a wicked knockback and an even more wicked grin on the monokuma before a bright flash of light fills the place.

A blinding white, and then darkness, no, smoke. Smoke is filling the theater, causing the darkness. It clears slowly, and the giant monokuma is no longer on stage, but in its place, another monster, with almost no resemblance to Shiroju, but it has to be related. It's laughing, but it has no mouth no head, it's like a soundtrack playing in the distance. Wings like a cape spread behind it, guns firing constantly, a large golden shield covers the chest. Smaller silver ones create a feathered pattern. The laughing continues, as if covering up the pain.

A new set of curtains draw closed in front of the monster. Shiroju is nowhere to be seen.  
He's dead.

~

"Is he really..." Miyano says. She's the only one to make out a word, for she sums up the thoughts of everyone there with just those three.

Monokuma says nothing, but he laughs. He laughs and it's even more eerie than that of the monster no longer on screen.

"Wait." Masuyo says. "Shiroju may be dead, but we're not done yet."

"What do you mean?" Monokuma demands. "You found the culprit, and he's dead, you're free to go, get out of here!"

"We still haven't cleared something up." She continues. "Shiroju's true motive."

"Huh?" Hensou stutters. "But I thought it was the Walpurgis Nacht cult thingy."

"No, that's not it." Masuyo says. "He was... He was protecting us. He was protecting Emiline, and he made it easier for us. He made there be only one culprit, and he gave us all the answers once we exposed that one clue. He even, he died to protect us, I'm sure of it."

"You silly fools!" monokuma laughs. "Trying to justify your friends' deaths and murders, all that matters is that they're dead! Get over yourselves, and get the hell out of my courtroom, for god's sake!" He physically shoves all of you into the elevator, and hammers the button until it goes back up.

The case will never feel solved, you think.

 

When you return to the dining hall, it's still day, Masuyo takes your hand and drags you out. She really feels like it's her responsibility to finish this mystery that doesn't want to be solved.

"Last time, " she says. "I went to the Laundry room after Kaisui died, and he wasn't there, it was spotless, the computer lab too, I've got to make sure." She sounds determined, and you don't care enough to argue.

Soon you're in the warehouse, at the sight of the murder, you think, and she's groaning in frustration.

"I don't know" she says. "I kind of hoped they would be here, it feels incomplete this way."

"I'm sure they'll get a proper funeral after we leave this place." You say.

"I guess that's true, but..."

"Hello!" You hear a voice, interrupting your conversation it's almost familiar, but it's not yours of Masuyo's.  
It almost sounds just like...

Emiline?

END Chapter 2

You received item, gilded white musket.

~~11~~ 12? students remain.


	12. Chapter Three: Treatment for a Snake's Venom: Daily Life- Day 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is very short but next weeks is much longer than usual so please forgive me with my unequal chapter spacing.

I couldn't believe my ears.

I thought I was hearing Emiline's voice, but that couldn't be, she had died, a gunshot to the chest, I saw it myself, she couldn't have survived, there was no way.

And yet, I heard her, or yet, what sounded just like her, a ghost of her voice.

"Hello!" She said, almost. I paused for a moment, still in disbelief. "Hey, what're you lookin' for? Maybe I could help?" She sounded different. I was afraid to look up from my investigation though, afraid to see my dead friend whose eyes had been so empty when last I saw her. "Masuyo, Tsuneo, hey! You can't just ignore me forever!"

Slowly I tilted my head up. I wanted to scream at what I saw. It seemed out of a science fiction movie. That face, so familiar in structure, but the eyes, everything was different, a bit off.

"You look like you've just seen a ghost!" They laughed, and it no longer sounded like Emiline. Emiline wasn't so lighthearted.

"Who are you?!" Tsuneo shouted. He sounded just as terrified as I felt.

"Oh, did I forget to introduce myself? Darn, I was never good at those introduction things." They laughed again, not unlike the tinkling bells on a near abandoned shrine, not unlike the sound of a church bell ringing for a funeral service. "You can call me Electronic Marionette Mark I, Emmi for short."

"I don't mean your name," Tsuneo faltered. "Who are you? No, what are you?"

"Surely at least Masuyo knows, she saw me!" They said.

"Are you..." I trailed off, remembering the project I had helped Emiline with.

"Ah, now you remember, I'm so glad!" They said. "Hey, hey, don't look so sad, what's wrong? And where's Emiline? I haven't seen her since she finished up implementing my program and went off to go get something, she said it was important..."

"Emiline is dead." I said. The words formed on their own, and hung on my tongue, barely managing to leave my mouth.

"What," Emmi sounded very confused. "I mean, I know, ummm, she said I was to stay behind and take her place once she left, but, I didn't expect it to happen so soon? I can't help but miss her. She didn't even finish introducing me to everyone. Tell me, who did it though? Who's left still? I've got to know."

"You're taking this rather lightly," Tsuneo said. "Do you know what's going on? Because I don't think I do."

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, sorry, part of my core programming is to search for information whenever possible, but I suppose I'll have to learn to give information too every once in a while." Emmi made an inhuman humming noise, as if deciding what to say. "Emiline made me! From scratch too! Who else but the Super High School Level Robotics Engieneer could make something so beautiful?" They laughed. "I was made from spare parts from the plant monsters, in, I think it was... Suzume's execution! She had killed Kaisui, right? And you two were the ones to solve the mystery!"

"Oh I don't think we really did that much," I said.

"Don't be so modest, you're great." They said. "And ummm, that's all she told me though, I can only assume more has happened since then since she's not here... But I guess you still want more backstory maybe? You still look confused, so I can if you need me to." I nodded vaguely. "Alright, so, Emiline knew her death was going to happen eventually, whether someone found out her secret and exploited it, or she just got bad luck, or she god fed up and killed someone else. She never doubted you would be able to solve the case. Soooo, she decided to make a replacement, so she could still be here to help everyone and stuff. She never finished implementing the personality circuits though, but I'm glad she didn't. I'm my own person, and I would have been anyways. I'm sorry I'm a bit difference, but I'll try to make things a bit livelier anyways!"

Tsuneo and I had been mostly quiet during the monologue, we could think of nothing to say. This was just way too weird.

"I don't think I can process all of this on my own." Tsuneo said to Emmi. "We've got to tell the others about you, you understand, right?"

"Hmmmmmmmmmmmm," Emmi hummed for an unreasonably long time. "Sure, but we shouldn't meet anywhere or any time that monokuma would expect us too, I'd hate for him to crash the party. I'm sending out a message now, for everyone to gather in the outdoor eating area. That seemed to work for a while last time."

"Wait, slow down." I said. Emmi refused.

"Nope, nope, nope, nope, let's go! Come on, I can't help but be excited to meet everyone!"

"But, they might not be excited to meet you," Tsuneo explained. "They all just saw you, no, Emiline die just a few hours ago, they're not ready yet."

"Hmmmm, I suppose that's true but... this is important, right?" They almost sounded sympathetic, but that might have been the wrong emotion to imitate at this time. "I can't just hide away until they're ready, then I wouldn't be seen until the final chapter. I exist, and they need to get used to me before it's too late. Now, we should probably get going, they're waiting for us!" Emmi grabbed both of our hands in each of theirs. Their grip was incredibly strong, I couldn't even try to slip my hand out. So they walked quickly, almost ran, with both of us in tow, until we had arrived at the outdoor eating area, the one we had cooked and eaten steak at that one time, they were humming all the way. Emmi shoved us in front of themself, and hid themself among the trees, almost still in sight, saying "Go on ahead, once everyone is there, give me the signal."

No one was there though. I waited around for somebody to show up for a while, but no one did. I pulled out my handbook from my pocket to check the message Emmi had apparently sent. It was there, in a group chat, and there were responses, but none were really pleasant. This was probably because the original message had been sent under Emiline's name.

Emmi's hiding spot looked very obvious from where I was standing. They were still humming in anticipation, and it made me kind of disappointed at the possibility they might be let down.

A robot programmed to learn, I figured. I tried to think of them that way, but it didn't help. It wasn't Emmi's fault they were curious. Hearing so much about so many people, I would want to meet them too, but I didn't know for sure if this was the right way to go about it.

I sent out a message on the same group chat.

"Please, it's important."

I guess people must have trusted me more than a possible ghost, because after that, they all started arriving, slowly, one by one. Shibou came first, the others followed, in sporadic intervals, some silent, some cursing under their breath angrily, all bitter.

"What kind of a fucking joke is this?" Matsuda spat. "I shouldn't have to waste time on this shitty tomfoolery!"

"This isn't funny at all." Soushin said, her tone dark. "This isn't some joke, who sent that message?"

"I won't take a prank like this lightly." Oshima scowled. Odori seemed to back him up on that.

Emmi jumped out from their hiding spot at quite possibly the worst time imaginable.

"It was me!" She shouted. "Super High School Level Robot! Electronic Marionette Mark I! Emmi for short! Nice to finally meet you all!"

"Get that, that, what ever it is away from me." Hensou said, it was quite possibly the most serious tone I'd ever seen him take. "She's not real, none of this is real."

"Excuse me?" Emmi said, taking the comment in a completely different direction than intended. "I am not a 'she'! I am a robot! Why would a robot have any standard of the human gender binary? Is it because my creator was female, and that I was modeled in her image? Is it my skirt? My ponytail? My flower bows and ribbons? All bad reasons!"

"What would we call a mockery of human thought, like you, then?" Keina asked.

"'They' should be fine, or just Emmi, thank you for asking!"

"This is wrong though," Miyano said. "This isn't the right genre, you can't just introduce a new character halfway through. This isn't a revival either, you're nothing like Emiline, any way you look at it."

"You're acting like it's my fault I'm here." Emmi said. "But it's not, I'd rather not be inducted into a killing game, but I have, I'm here, I exist, so get used to me."

"You can't just do this." Shibou said. "Didn't you think about this at all? We only just lost Emiline a few hours ago, do you have any idea what psychological damage you could cause by showing up now?"

"Crap nuggets, I wasn't thinking about that, but then again, I'm only a few hours old myself! I'm doing better than most infants, I would think."

"I cannot simply stand here any longer and have you make a mockery of our emotions and our loss." Odori stated. All eyes moved to watch her speak. "You should have know better than to do something so foolish, or better yet, your superiors should have known to stop you." She glared at me, and I couldn't help but feel more guilty than I ever had. "I am leaving, Emmi-san, and the rest of you, I hope you have a good day, but I do not wish to have any part in it."

Nobody else said a word as she left in the silence, but we all thought around the same thing I suspected. I was the only one left with Emmi in the end, perhaps out of sympathy for them, or maybe I was just stupid.

"Do they not like me?" They asked. "Did I do something wrong?"

"You kinda did, yeah." I said. "And even I'm not sure if there's anything you could do to make it up to them besides lay low for a while. We're all very tired from the trial, and maybe a bit irrational."

"No, I don't think your state of mind had anything to do with it." They said. "I went and fudged everything up, but I guess I understand. I wasn't really thinking about what anyone else wanted or needed at the time, or how they would react. I just wanted to meet everyone so badly."

"Maybe in a few days I can try introducing you again." I suggested. "They just aren't ready yet, I'm sure."

"Right, thank you, Masuyo." They smiled. "You're my favorite!" After saying that, they left, and I was alone again.

I headed back to my cabin and slept.

END DAY 1

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate this chapter. I hate it so much. I wish it did not exist.  
> But I am not a good enough author to write out Emmi in the future.


	13. Chapter Three: Treatment for a Snake's Venom: Daily Life- Day 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A very long and slightly late chapter. Enjoy.

I caught myself waking up late. I hated doing that, it made me feel hung-over and slow, but I guessed it was better than 4 am insomnia. It was just before the morning announcement when I drudged out of bed. Tsuneo was still asleep.

I wanted to try and treat Hensou so he wouldn't have to cook at least, so I left for the dining hall as quick as I could.

No one was there, it felt empty. I sighed and went to the kitchen, fully stocked as always. I knew my food would never be as good as Hensou's or Matsuda's breakfasts, but I wanted to help. I worked slowly.

The dining hall was silent. It was nice, if not a bit creepy, and refreshing. All that I heard was the gentle crackling and sizzling of oils and fat in the pan as I cooked. I remembered I was used to this, waking up every day to cook my breakfast for myself, and to give to Tsuneo as his dinner. He'd go to sleep soon after that and I’d have the house to myself. Our parents were never there, always busy doing whatever it was they did, but I didn't mind. I never minded being so lonely then, so why now? It didn't bother me too much.

Silence was nice.

I heard the door swing open, but whoever had entered didn't say anything. Only the screech of a metal chair scrapping across linoleum told me that they sat down.

It was quiet.

Another person entered and sat down. They didn't say anything either. It was okay though. I checked the time on the wall clock.

8 am.

People should have been showing up more by now, but I didn't really blame them. It was a dreary day. I just hoped they wouldn't try to starve themselves, no matter how bad my cooking turned out today. Starving to death would be bad.

I heard the door open again. The faint clacking of one metal clacking against another a few times to find one's way around, and two people sitting down. Soushin and Keina, probably.

I started to record the sounds in my mind. The sound of someone yawning. More door openings. A faint greeting to the four already there, a sitting down, a few failed attempts at starting conversation, the fire alarm going off.

huh?

I looked down again at my pan, to which I had been ignoring while listening. The food was burnt to a crisp, unrecognizable, and smoking heavily. I dropped it and ran out of the kitchen, startled.

What a mistake I had made.

I was unable to say anything to the situation, but people were fleeing. Soushin and Keina had indeed been there, along with Oshima and Miyano, and Tsuneo, who still hadn't left.

"What are you doing, Masuyo? I'm supposed to be the bad cook!" His laughing was faint and far off. He went into the kitchen, leaving me dazed in the dining hall. My mind was as smoky as the air. I heard him curse vaguely, and I followed to the doorway and watched as he picked up the hot pan and dropped it in the sink, immediately turning the water on and the stove off. This was probably not correct fire safety. The room filled with steam. "Open all the windows, right?" He asked, maybe it was a statement. I nodded, I think, and he opened all of those in the kitchen, I left and did the same in the dining hall.

The steam and smoke cleared, and Tsuneo went outside to tell everyone waiting there what had happened. I felt like an idiot, but I just couldn't concentrate, I couldn't keep my thoughts together.

Nothing was going right for me.

I didn't want to try and cook again, so I grabbed as many boxes of cereal as I could find, and carried them out to dumb unceremoniously on one of the tables, along with a few gallon jugs of milk and 16 bowls.

Wait, that was too many.

I took the extra four bowls and stole them back to the kitchen before anyone could notice my mistake. I was already embarrassed enough. I didn't know if Emmi would show up, so I left one for her just in case. Anyways, one extra bowl would be easier to pass off as a miscount than five.

The hall rung in silence.

The smoke had already cleared, but it still took a while for everyone to calm down and file back in. Oshima came in first, and Matsuda last. Emmi was the only one missing in the end.

Miyano hoarded the box of Lucky Charms, but she only ate the marshmallows, it was cute, almost. Neither Shibou nor Hensou ate, but Shibou drank milk, while trying to keep a neutral demeanor. It was a good representation of different types of grief, I thought.

Oshima seemed happier today than he had the first day after the previous trial. Odori never really showed emotion anyways, so it was hard to tell.

Oshima stood up after finishing a bowl of who knows what, and Miyano and Hensou followed suit. I found myself moving to leave as well. Shibou stayed where he was, but he noticed us leaving.

It was less like we were following Oshima as we left the building, and more like we were a group travelling together towards a common goal. It felt ritualistic though, and a bit scary, until Miyano spoke up.

"It's nice of you to come with us, Ajiyama-chan." She said, walking next to me. "You haven't lost anyone that close to you, I think, but you still care as if you had."

"I guess it's good to have someone to mourn those other two too," Hensou said. "It feels like Odori-san and Shibou-kun don't really care, do they?"

"I think it's more like, I don't know, Odori-san just seems out of touch with her emotions." Oshima said. "It's not her fault though, I don't think she means to be, but Shibou's the same way, right? He does it on purpose though, I'm pretty sure. He looked really irritated not exactly at Emiline's death, but at the fact it bothered him."

"They don't deserve the awesome teammates they had." Hensou claimed, sticking his chin up a bit.

"I don't think that's entirely true." I said. "They needed their teammates to have stayed alive longer I think, the extra interaction would have brought more emotion out of them."

"That could have worked." Miyano said. "But it's too late now anyways." She paused. "Hey, Oshima-kun, we're going to the garden to get flowers first, right?"

"Hm?" Oshima responded. "Oh, sure, yeah." Somehow he had been unofficially appointed leader, it didn't seem to bother him too much, but I think he would have preferred if someone else had taken the lead.

We walked together to forest path 1, and past the warehouse. It was a different graveyard from our goal, not a good one, and the greenhouse was prettier.

"What flowers are you going to get, Ajiyama-chan?" Miyano asked.

"Oh, I don't know, I wasn't thinking about that." I said. "Maybe lavender for Emiline, but what would Kaisui like? He never seemed the type for flowers anyways."

"I always get green lilies for Kawada-san." Oshima said.

"I was thinking marigolds for Otsuka!" Hensou said. "She'll love the reference to Latin American culture too, I hope! If only I had an up to date calendar so we could celebrate Día de los Muertos with her,"

"I guess a translator would take interest in other cultures, huh," I said.

"What? No, she's originally from a small town in Mexico. She was born there, and lived there until she was five."

"How were we supposed to know? Nobody told us!" Miyano complained.

"I guess she didn't want anyone to know or something." Hensou explained.

"Wait," I said. "I thought she was a daughter of the Togami Conglomerate."

"She was, did you not know?" He acted like I should've. "Instead of settling down with one wife, the leader of the Togami Conglomerate has kids with women or men all over the world and then they have a kind of Battle Royale for the heir. Kinda like this place, I guess."

"But if it's actually like Battle Royale," Miyano said. "Then why wasn't Otsuka-chan the heiress?"

"She didn't win," Hensou said. "She escaped."

"What?" Oshima gasped.

"Yeah, she got the hell outta there and made her own name." Hensou expositioned. "That's why her name's Otsuka and not Togami, too."

"Then, she has no really connection to the Togami family?" I asked.

"I guess not." Hensou confirmed.

"Then why did she act like she did all that time?" Oshima asked. Hensou shrugged.

"It was probably to help hide her secret." I suggested. "Her talent wasn't actually Super High School Level Translator, it was something else entirely. If she wasn't rich, then just having been tutored a lot of languages and catching on real quick wouldn't have made sense. She would have had to find a different lie."

"Hmmmmm," Miyano hummed. "But, it doesn't really matter now, right? The Otsuka-chan we knew was all that mattered then, and that's still true."

"Right," Oshima agreed. "We'll be at the garden now soon, I'm sure she'll love the marigolds."

"I wonder if they have blue roses!" Miyano quickly changed the subject. "I want to make a guns n' roses joke, but I also want blue flowers, right?"

"I'd be surprised if there weren't any." I said. "Hey, what do you think of tiger lilies for Kaisui, with the orange and black motif."

"That'd be hella," Miyano said. "He'll love 'em, I'm absolutely sure of it!"

Everyone was laughing and happy as we picked flowers for the graves. Miyano did find blue roses; she got a few yellow and white ones too, and made a huge bouquet. Hensou got a few red roses too, and put them in his grouping of Marigolds. Oshima's green lilies seemed the prettiest though, despite being so simple.

I picked a bunch of lilac and lavender for Emiline, and a few black and orange flowers for Kaisui, including a couple of tiger lilies.

We looked like a group of brides with all the bouquets we were carrying, but brides wouldn't be visiting graveyards, at least not normally. We were all quiet now, not the boisterous group of friends like before, but still friends.

The gates to the graveyard were unlocked. Again, there were fresh flowers on the graves that Matsuda always visited. She was probably there earlier in the morning.

I stopped briefly at Otsuka and Shiroju's graves before I moved on to Emiline's.

"大塚 敏子  
 ~~======~~ - ~~~~~~======~~

~~~~Be who you want to be, not who you were born to be."

Otsuka had her quote written again in multiple languages, I thought it suited her, and although I didn't quite get it, Hensou was still crying a river of tears, hunched over and crushing the flowers he had brought her.

"白銃 勝郎  
 ~~======~~ \- ~~======~~

~~~~Shoot for the moon, my dear, and even if you miss, I will meet you amongst the stars."

I almost cried at the quote on Shiroju's out of sheer sentimentality. He had told me about the person waiting for him; this was probably a message to them. Miyano was crying as she read it, even though she might not have gotten the intended meaning. The roses were laid in front, and they had tears on them, slowly flowing down the curves of the petals.

I dropped the orange bouquet off at Kaisui's graves and paused for a moment before moving on to Emiline's, where I left the lavender and lilac, and stayed for a while longer. I read hers too.

"Emiline Grangerford  
エミリン グレンジャーフォード  
 ~~======~~ \- ~~======~~

Even after the end, the story is never over; it just doesn't involve you from that point on."

I noticed all of the dates on the graves were still scratched out. I still didn't know why. The graveyard looked different, with more graves, and more flowers. Not especially good or bad, just different. I still didn't want it to grow any more.

The three of them, Hensou, Miyano, and Oshima, they all looked so peaceful, like they could actually talk to those already dead. Oshima looked happier here than I had seen him since Kawada's execution. I felt sorry for him.

Miyano stood first after me, and she joined me watching the other two, then Hensou, and when Oshima had finished, we left.

"Hey, Ajiyama-chan," Miyano started after we had walked away a considerable distance from the graveyard. "Whenever there's a new area, you're always the one who suggests we explore it, why didn't you this time?"

"There was a new area?" I asked. "I didn't notice, sorry. Maybe exploring it would be a good idea."

"Let's not do teams this time though," Hensou said. "With five of us missing team members, it's not as easy to push off the remaining onto preexisting teams."

"We could make Shibou go with Emmi." Miyano suggested. "And then ask Odori which of us she wants to go with."

"I honestly think she would still prefer Keina-san over any of us." Oshima said. "Maybe we should draw straws or something."

"What if we just chose our partners," I asked, taking the blunt of the obvious reaction. "Then everyone gets to go with who they want, right? Regardless of who it is, and we can leave Emmi out of it by having a group of three."

"That might work," Hensou said. "But how will we gather everyone up for it?"

"Let's make lunch!" Miyano shouted suddenly. "A nice bento party, and everyone can go exploring for good picnic spots! I can help too, as long as Hensou cooks everything!"

"I could try to help with that too," I said. "You probably remember my fiasco from this morning though, so I'll try to stay away from the stove, just in case."

"Perfect! I'll text everyone to tell them about it!" Miyano began furiously tapping at her busy blue eHandbook. I saw she was using an excess of emoticons.

"I told them to meet at 12:30!" She said. "It's 11:00 now, about, we better get working!" She practically ran through the rest of the forest path on her way to the dining hall, leaving us in the dust.

By the time we caught up to her in the kitchen, she already had two rice cookers out, and a whole bunch of ingredients laid out on the counter.

"I'm not very good at the actual cooking part of it," she said. "But I can do a hella job at arranging things to look cute, so I'll leave the rest to you all! And Ajiyama-chan, I don't know where the actual boxes are, soooo..."

"I'll get them for you." I said. "Oshima can cook the rice and fix the vegetables, and Hensou's on meat duty. I'll cut things up and find utensils."

"Let's do this!" Miyano said, more excited than any of us. I grabbed eleven boxes from the cupboard, learning from the mistake of a twelfth cereal bowl for Emmi, and 22 chopsticks. Everything was color coded in different shades and hues. There were 16 different boxes on the shelf, all different colors; it was well planned and coordinated. It almost made me upset we didn't have an excuse to use all of them.

The rice cooked quickly, as did everything else. Miyano was as great at arranging things as she had claimed, and we had 11 unique bento boxes by 12:30, just in time for everyone's arrival.

Everyone was wary as they walked into the dining hall, but they seemed to calm when they saw the four of us waiting with a mountain of boxes, which Miyano was playing with like legos.

It didn't take long for everyone to show up, and they did so in pairs for the most part, that would make partnering up easier, I guessed. Odori and Keina, Matsuda and Hiniwa, Tsuneo and Soushin, but Shibou was alone. I made notes of all the pairs just on the off chance. Miyano jumped up and started announcing her scheme before I had a chance to say a word.

"Yo! I know everyone's kinda bummed out, but that isn't any good, right?" she said. She was standing on top of her chair, a needed height advantage. "So, we made lunch for everyone! And we're gonna have a super coolio contest to see who can find the very best picnic spot in the new areas that opened up! There's new stairs in this building, and the gates in front of forest path 2 have opened! If a team's already in a place, then you gotta find a new one! Ajiyama-chan will be the officiate and judge, that's okay, right, Ajiyama-chan?"

"Sure, yeah." I said. I wish had been told beforehand though.

"Good, then, the winner gets this limited edition jumbo pack of triple dipped chocolate covered nut pocky!" She held the package up over her head for us all to see, but really, it made the view even more unclear. "It will remain in a super secret hidden location until the winner is decided!" She leaned down to put it on the table, and didn't act like she planned to move it. "Alright, I'll go with Oshima-kun, Hensou-kun with Shibou-kun, Ajiyama-kun and Soushin-chan, Odori-san and Keina-san, and Matsuda-san and Hiniwa-san! Alright, ready? Go!"

Miyano jumped off her chair and ran full speed after dropping the last word, dragging Oshima along behind her. She wanted the pocky. Everyone else left at reasonable, moderate paces, and I was the only one left. It was weird not to have Tsuneo exploring with me like the first two times, but I was okay, probably. I started towards the stairs, and this apparent new level to the building. I skipped visiting the Library, doubtful there was something new there.

I approached the next set of stairs slowly, cautious, but not suspiciously so hopefully. They were creaky, made of wood, unlike the metal scaffolding between the ground floor and the second floor. Besides the creaking, they were sturdy enough, and well made as far as I could tell. They opened into another rectangular hall, but this time the two doors did not enter into the same room. There was one to the north, and one to the south, each with a name plate above it. To the north, one called "Laboratory", and to the South "Art Study". Just on my gut, I entered the Art Study first. Odori and Keina were there.

"Hey, Ajiyama-san," Keina greeted. "'Sup?"

"Not much," I responded. I looked around at the room. Art was hung all over the walls, from the skill of a 5 year old's scribbles to pieces comparable to the Mona Lisa. Kaisui would have loved this place. Easels were set up in various places, some of them with subject matter in front of them. That fruit was probably plastic. Most of them were folded along the wall though. Stools were spread around too; Keina and Odori were sitting on two of them. Shelves on the wall were full of supplies.

"It's a pretty cool place, right?" Xe said. "I would've tried harder, but I think the prize mattered a whole lot more to some of the others than it did to me or Odori."

"I agree." Odori said.

"Well, we'll deal with what we've got, this is really just a cover for exploring, right? So that's what we'll do." Keina said. "We'll be sure to give a detailed report of this place once the contest is over, but for now, we're eating."

"Sounds good, I'll be sure to take that into consideration." I said, joking about my 'judge' position.

The art study didn't seem to have a whole lot more in it, and what was there didn't seem important, so I left, back into the hall, and then into the laboratory.

"V-very rude in-interr-rumpting us like that." Matsuda greeted me.

"Nice to see you too, Matsuda-san," I responded. "And you, Hiniwa-kun." He nodded in acknowledgement.

"S-so, what do you th-think of our marvelous disc-covery?" Matsuda asked. "P-possibly one of the m-most advanced personal lab-bs I've ever s-seen, excluding mine, of c-course."

"It's a lovely lab." I said. "But should you be eating in here? I thought that was like, super dangerous."

"Only if the lab has been fucking used before, yeah," She said. "And as far as I can tell, this place ain't touched shit!" She laughed. "Tables and everything are damn spotless, only dangerous chemicals are locked up in cabinets, can't get out any 'til we find the key."

"So, it's safe?" I asked.

"Yeah," Hiniwa confirmed. "All the poisons are out of reach, but there are dietary supplements and vitamins for free use. Monokuma told us that in order to unlock the cabinets with poison, we have to complete some sort of challenge."

"It doesn't r-really matter though." Matsuda said. "Who n-needs chem-mistry supplies when all the phys-sics equipment is fr-free to use?"

"I guess that's true." I said. "We'll make lots of use of this place, for sure."

"Right!" Matsuda beamed. She looked happy for what I believed was the first time since I met her.

I left the lab, taking no time to investigate it myself, and deciding I'd let Matsuda enjoy the discovery she loved so much, and I went back down the creaky stairs, and the stable ones.

Forest Path 2 was to the left, the north, and just past forest path 1, a few feet of trees separating the gates. The trees looked the same, and were still impassable. At least the path was a bit wider here.

Like on the other path, each prominent feature was accompanied by a clearing, the first of which was huge. There was a brightly colored building with far too many signs for a deserted forest resort taking up most of the space, though. Golf carts lined a mini parking lot, but they looked to be unoperational. The sliding doors on the building still worked though, as I stepped up to them. I received no break; my eyes continued to be assaulted from every angle by bright packaging and fluorescent lighting. An annoyingly catchy song played over all the loud speakers. The only actual lyrics were the words "food-mart" played over and over again in a monotonous loop.

"Ah! Ajiyama-chan!" Miyano popped up from behind one of the nearby cash registers. "You're here! What do you think?"

"Of what exactly? I'm still not quite sure where I am." I squinted. "I'm getting kind of dizzy."

"Hmm, I could see that." She said. "I'm used to it by now though! I see bright colors all the time!" She paused, taking a huge bite out of her lunch, and then continued to speak with it in her mouth. "Oshima-kun is off exploring the products, I went into the employee's only areas to find stuff, but there wasn't much." she swallowed. "There were uniforms and a changing room, and a break room stocked with sodas and snacks, I doubt we'll be taking from those though, do you even see how many aisles there are? It's amazing."

Oshima seemed to run up on cue, returning from his quest to create a vague itinerary of the contents of the store, and he sighed loudly. "Hey," he breathed, leaning over and resting his hands on his knees. It seemed a bit overdramatic.

"Yo! Oshima-kun, didya find n'thin' cool?" Miyano asked.

"There is... so much food... here." He was still catching his breath.

"Well duh! It's food-mart!" Miyano sang along on pitch to the annoying music.

"It seems excessive though." He said. "Isn't there already enough food in the dining hall?"

"There's more readymade stuff here." Miyano explained. "So then even those of us who can't cook won't starve to death, and I won’t have to save up for two weeks to buy a single package of pocky from that dumb school store."

"I think it could be very useful." I said. "I'm excited to not have to cook for everyone so often at least."

"I can finally continue my solid diet of instant ramen and junk food." Miyano said. "Ramune and Pocky for miles!"

"Isn't that really unhealthy?" Oshima asked.

"That's the whole point!" Miyano exclaimed. "Don't tell me you don't want a pizza party! Can't order delivery, but at least we got the oily oven stuff now."

"Gross." He said.

"Fine then, you're not invited, it's a girl's only event!" Miyano looked to me. "You'll come, right?"

"Sure, I can come." I said. It sounded fun, even if it might make me sick.

"Then tomorrow night, if the Teal Cabin is okay." She smiled. "We can play the pocky game since there's basically no way I'm not going to win. Oh! Also! I got the monitor to work for DVDs, I'll pop popcorn, and make other snacks too! We'll have a movie night! No guys allowed!"

"What will you do about Keina?" Oshima asked.

"I don't see any problem with xem coming if xe wants to, why stop him?" Miyano answered.

"I'll see you tomorrow night then," I said. "If not before, I mean. Do you think there's anything else important in 'food-mart'?"

"Hmm, just this one thing." Miyano reached behind her back and pulled out a visor-hat-thing with the food-mart logo. "I thought this would look adorable on you, Ajiyama-chan! I found it with the uniforms, but it's got that same green you're always wearing. It's matching, see?"

"Thanks, Miyano-san." I said.

"Huh? You're still calling me by my surname?" She pouted. "Please, don't, it's Mamiko, or something, something cuter than my surname, please."

"Alright, Miya-chan." I joked, not expecting her to take it seriously. She smiled.

"Perfect! That sounds a whole lot better from you, Aji-chan!" I received a nickname from her as well. I smiled and left food mart, to continue my job as judge. As soon as I left the clearing, my faint headache cleared away. Without all the bright colors it was easier to concentrate, and I could hear actual calming sounds instead of that awful tune. I thought I heard running water.

The next clearing was quieter, calmer, more peaceful. This was probably because it did not have an excited super store, but a public bath house instead. The apparent outdoor bath was concealed by the thick trees, leaving only the entrance visible from the clearing, which I proceeded to make use of.

It opened to a reception area before the changing rooms and baths. There were three doors, one for girls, one for boys, and a third door in between the other two without any markings for it, presumable mixed. I didn't understand why they would bother with women's and men's baths if they were just going to have a mixed bath anyways, but the middle one seemed smaller. I didn't see anyone yet in the reception area, but monokuma popped up to talk to me in their place.

"Hey, hey!" He shouted. "You look like you could use a bit of information! Upupupu! This bathhouse has a few rules, you know! And they are very important! Only girls are allowed in the women's bath, and only boys in the men's bath! I'll be keeping track as best I can too, so don't try to sneak past me! Oh, but even I need sleep, so if something were to happen after the nighttime announcement..."

"Don't worry." I stopped him. "I won't try anything."

"Yeah, yeah, sure you won't! Even the brightest of students sometimes fall to peer pressure!" He cackled. "I guess /you/ wouldn't need to though, would you? Anyways, back on topic! Anyone can go in the mixed bath, but it has a maximum occupancy of two people! Why two you ask? Well I'm sure somebody, if not you, will find a reason eventually. Just know there are already two students in there right now, so no fun exploits for you!"

"What?" I questioned. "Who's in there?"

"I couldn't tell you that!" He laughed. "It would ruin the suspense!" Then monokuma disappeared again, leaving me in frustration. There were only two teams left, Tsuneo and Soushin, and Hensou and Shibou, and I doubted the later two would try to use the mixed bath if they were the two suspicious individuals.

I shouted for them to come out, but my words didn't reach them through the thick stone walls. I figured I'd be louder from the adjacent bath, so I went to the women's changing room. There were eight lockers and a few benches, I assumed the men's would be the same. I moved quickly to the actual bath, which ended up to be filled with steam and hot water. There was only a thin wooden wall separating the baths.

"Tsuneo!" I called. "I need to talk to you! Get out of there!"

There started to be a sound of bumping around, but I walked out to the reception area, not wanting to hear whatever might be going on. Soushin was there, but Tsuneo rushed out after I arrived, slightly dishelved.

"Ah, Masuyo, I didn't think you would show up yet!" He said, sounding surprised.

"Obviously." I tsked. "What were you even doing in there?"

"We were exploring of course, Ajiyama-chan!" Soushin laughed. My name sounded sour in her mouth. "I didn't want to get lost trying to navigate in a new area without someone to get me out, but I still wanted to go into the bath, I've never been inside one before."

"Never?" I asked. "Why not?"

"Everyone who knew me didn't think it was safe." She explained. "So only private bathing for the first fifteen years of my life. It was reeaaally boring."

"Really, I promise I wouldn't have gone in there if she hadn't asked." Tsuneo tried desperately to claim innocence. "You know I wouldn't lie to you, Masuyo, I didn't do anything suspicious."

"You still look like you did." I said.

"Lay off of Tsuneo-chi." Soushin said. I winced. I hadn't ever heard anyone else but me call him by his given name in years. "He did absolutely nothing wrong. Nothing like what you seem to be thinking. And even if he had, it's not your business to worry about it."

"Ah, no, it's okay." Tsuneo said. "She's allowed to worry about me, she's my sister and all."

"No, I'm sorry for interrupting." I said, but I knew they both could hear the resentment in my voice. "Just remember to actually eat lunch. We worked really hard, you know."

"We will, don't worry." Soushin sighed. She waved as I left the bath house, in a bad mood now.

My mood only worsened when I turned the corner to the last clearing. It was grander than the bathhouse, but a lot quieter than the supermarket, and still more imposing. A tall building, with only one floor, one entrance, and symmetrical. A regal appearance. I dreaded it.

It was an old theater, probably abandoned. A heavy atmosphere suffocated the surrounding area, I could think only one thing.

Not again.

I couldn't avoid entering, but the caution I held as I did so was overwhelming. A small room with a ticket booth was all that I saw at first. Three sets of double doors exited in the opposite direction from the entrance, all to the same room. I could smell it before I had pushed the door more than a centimeter.

It was the smell of dried blood.

Why did I recognize that?

The place was a mess, curtains burnt, and torn to the ground. Entire sections of seating torn from their bolts. Stage lighting blown out completely, with shattered bulbs. The only thing missing from Shiroju's execution was the monster from the ending, but I honestly would have been even more terrified had it been there. The splatters from the killed dolls were there too, the source of the smell of dried blood. It was putrid, I wanted to puke, but apparently someone else disagreed with that sentiment.

Shibou sat on the front row, in the center, quietly eating his lunch. Hensou was next to him, shaking and looking rather uneasy. He noticed me, but he didn't say anything, only continued to shake.

"Shibou-san?" I inquired tentatively.

"Oh, it's Ajiyama-chan!" He said, far too cheery for the location. "How can I help you?"

"Should you really be eating here?" I asked. "Isn't it kind of, strange?"

"What?" He looked puzzled. "Are you implying that something important happened here?"

"He's been acting like this the entire time." Hensou said, his voice was as shaky as he was. "Ignoring the fact that anyone has died so far, pretending this place doesn't smell like... that."

"Do you think he's in denial?" I asked.

"Even if I was," Shibou interjected. "I can still hear you. Do you really feel prepared to psychoanalyze me?"

"No, but..." I started. "Are you okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" His voice was strained. He stirred the half eaten food in his lunch around, but ate nothing.

"You always seem like you're ignoring the facts." I said, ignoring his warning. "And not just accepting them, you're completely separated from what's going on around you, acting like an observer instead of a real person. You're completely out of touch with any human emotion, and I think it's your own fault."

"Did you ever bother to consider that might be intentional?" He snapped. "These so called 'human emotions' are inconvenient to me, a bother. I'd rather not deal with my own if it means I can deal better with everyone else's."

"That's unhealthy." I said. " _Especially_ for a therapist."

"Do you recall what my specialty was? The thing that got me into Hope's Peak?" He questioned, but he didn't wait for an answer. "Romantic Therapy. If I were to let my emotions interfere with that then..."

"You don't need to worry about that." I said. "Feel what you need to feel, and so will everyone else. Just talk it out, you'll be fine."

"It's almost annoying how childish your perception of the world is." Shibou said. "But I supposed I could at least try," he relented. "I'm unsure of how to start though?"

"I can't help you with that I think." I said. "No one really can, you've got to help yourself with it, but you'll do fine, I'm sure."

"I can try." He admitted. "I will for your sake, or for my own, that you stop bugging me about it."

"Thank you," I said, albeit a bit insulted. It was an uncharacteristically easy change he made, that only worried me more. Maybe this would make things better, that would be nice, but the odds did not favor us.

Hensou smiled at me. He seemed happy that I had helped Shibou, and him in turn, and he left with me to eat outside, away from the smell. I was hungry by the time I had finished my rounds, and he couldn't eat in a place that carried the odor of death, so we decided to eat together.

"Somehow I don't feel like this will end well." He said.

"I don't quite understand?"

"I don't know, it's just, five people have died already, and we keep getting reminded of them." He sighed. "Like, we would've still mourned and been sad about Kawada and Shiroju even if we didn't have to see the places they died every say, so why show us? It's bad enough just to have people dying so much in the first place."

"I agree, but..." I trailed off for a second to think. "He's trying to get to us, I think, but we should try our best not to let him."

"Someone's going to fall for his tricks eventually." He took a large bite of his meal and swallowed it whole. "I trust it not to be you though, Ajiyama-chan."

"I don't think you'll hurt anyone either." I said. "I'd like to believe no one would kill anyone, but..."

"It's okay," he said, filling the silence I had left. "It'll be okay, we'll get out of here alright."

"Thanks." I said. We ate the rest of our lunches in silence. I left for the dining hall a while before him, before anyone really. It wasn't too empty for long though. The sounds of happy people wandering in after their various explorations cheered me up.

"Aji-chan!" Miyano called as she entered. "No one stole the pocky, right?"

I looked down to where it still lay on the table, unmoved. "Nope, no one."

"Great! We can decide who won now!" She looked extremely excited, but also like she knew the answer already. "Soooo, who did it? Who found the best spot?"

"Do I really have to decide?" I asked. Miyano's expression dropped immediately. "Everyone found places that were good in one way or another, but none of them really stood out that much as a fantastic place for a lunch date."

"Ugh, how boring!" She complained. "Are you saying it's a tie? Then who gets the prize?"

"Have you considered the possibility of sharing it?" Odori suggested.

"I vote that a great idea!" Soushin said, raising her hand. "You said it was a jumbo pack, right? Don't those have little mini packages inside for the specific purpose of sharing?"

"That's true, but..." Miyano looked dejected to have to actually give her pocky away after being sure of her own victory.

"Alright, I guess we can share, but there's only ten packages inside, someone will get short changed."

"I don't need one," I said. "I'm sure you'll have time to secure plenty more before tomorrow night."

"Huh, tomorrow night?" Matsuda remarked. "What's then?"

"It's a girl's only movie night." I explained. "Miya-chan is hosting it in the Teal Cabin, and um, Keina is invited too," I turned to xem. "That is, if you want to come."

"You really didn't have to include me," Keina said, but it was obvious xe was excited.

"Aww, but that doesn't really seem fair." Hensou said. "You all get to have fun, but we gotta sit around doing jack shit?"

"We could throw a party of our own." Hiniwa said.

"You won't have a coolio TV to watch movies on though!" Miyano teased.

"We could use the bath house." Tsuneo suggested. "It could be just as entertaining."

"Works for me too!" Keina said. "I don't really like bath houses that much, so I don't even have to decide."

"It's settled then," I said. "Two _separate_ parties, and no intermixing, but everyone still gets to have fun."

"Hella!" Miyano said. "Then we have what's left of today and most of tomorrow to prepare."

"There remains not much of today that could be useful however." Odori said. "Perhaps it would benefit the majority of us if we retired early to conserve energy for what I predict to be a long night."

"I guess so," Keina said. "But her, let's all make dinner first, just keep the bad cooks out of the kitchen."

"It's a bit early for dinner." I said. "We just had lunch."

"Silly, silly Aji-chan." Miyano said. "You can never have too much time to make food, this some of us can learn how to cook something in the process!"

"Ler's make pasta." Matsuda said. "Even I can help with that, and there's a ton of types, so everyone can try to make their own."

"I'm gonna make mac & cheese!" Miyano declared, hurrying to the kitchen. It was barely 3 o'clock, I hoped this took a long time, but it probably wouldn't. Matsuda got up and went to the kitchen, most everyone following behind her. Hensou looked distressed.

"What's the matter?" I asked him.

"I can't cook pasta," he whined. "Not the kind Matsuda-san seems to want to make, anyways. Anything other than my dad's recipes are beyond me, and he never helped me cook foreign food."

"She's trying to make Italian, right?" I asked. "'Spaghetti' and stuff."

"Yeah, Miyano's mac & cheese is gonna be a lot fancier than she planned." He laughed.

"I'm sure it'll be delicious though, what's the problem if you didn't cook it?"

"It's a matter of pride? Almost..." he sighed. "Once I take on a job, I just can't let someone take over, it makes me feel guilty, or like I've abandoned my post."

"Cooking isn't your job, Hensou-kun." I said. "You're good at it, yeah, but you don’t' need to put so much pressure on yourself."

"I don't think it's something I do consciously." He tried to explain. "It just happens."

"You can still help with dinner though, can't you?" I suggested. "With Matsuda-san keeping track of everything, I'm sure you can't mess up too badly."

"I could if I tried to," he sighed. "But I'll do my best not to instead."

"Alright then," I smiled. "Although, if you did mess up, I'd be okay with it, it would help waste some of the extra time we have before a reasonable dinner."

"We are starting really early." He agreed. "Still, let's not get left out!" He got up with determination and joined everyone else in the kitchen. It was crowded. There were pans of water heating to a boil on most of the burners of the stove. The place smelled like salt and hot water, which shouldn't have had a smell, but it did.

Miyano was on Oshima's shoulders, trying to reach a high up shelf, it looked like a disaster waiting to happen. She was pulling out boxes of noodles and handing them to Odori, who set them on the counter. Who knew why the boxes were stored so high up. Tsuneo was at the fridge with Hensou, both filling their arms with as many sauce jars as they could hold. It was a funny sight to see, but everyone was having fun. I decided to join them.

In the end, we finished making all of it by five. There was so much of it that we all ended up taking some home to eat another time. Actually, there was a lot. At least seven different types were what I received, all in throw away "one-serving" containers. Everyone else got almost the same, there was so much that it would probably go badly before we could eat it all, but it meant no one had to cook for a while, and that was good.

I was tired though, and even though it wasn't yet seven when I got home, I slept immediately. It had been a long day, and I deserved the extra rest.

The sound of leaves brushing in the wind ushered me to sleep.

END DAY 2  
  



	14. Chapter Three: Treatment for a Snake's Venom: Daily Life- Day 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A Chapter One Week One Day and a bit over Three hours late? I cannot express how sorry I am for these sick images and nearly 6000 words I'm about to lay down. Regular updates will hopeful resume Friday the 26th, but school is slamming me right now sorry.

I woke up sleepy, and early, which would have been normal if the thing waking me up was myself instead of a suspicious figure shaking me awake.

I screamed.

Tsuneo jolted, and rushed around the thin screen separating our beds, turning the light on in the process. Somehow seeing Emmi's familiar face didn't calm me as much as Tsuneo pushing them off of me.

"What are you doing here?" I shouted, swinging my legs over the side of the bed.

"I needed to talk to you." Emmi said, unaffected by the reaction to her appearance.

"You couldn't have waited?" I asked. "How did you even get in here in the first place?"

"Through the door, it wasn't too hard to pick the lock."

"You broke in?" Tsuneo joined me in the loud questioning.

"It was important, I swear." Emmi said.

"Then tell us already! If it's so important!" He shouted.

"I have conducted my own investigation of these new areas and I have uncovered something you may have overlooked during your expedition." They explained.

"What then?" I asked.

"The cabinets in the laboratory are all unlocked, even the poisons. Matsuda-san was lying to you." The mood dropped, if that was possible. "Rather suspicious behavior, I believe."

"Why would Matsuda do something like that?" I demanded.

"How can I be sure? But have you seen any of her previous motives?" Emmi elaborated. "She could be using a nervous or rude demeanor to hide any psychological issues caused by them, or to hide a third personality even more sinister."

"You're saying, she doesn't even need another motive?" Tsuneo asked.

"Maybe, or maybe she didn't trust you. You've been the main two, along with Shibou, solving the case every time." They paused. "You could very easily get away with it if you decided to commit your own crime."

"But... we wouldn't." I said, unsure even of myself now. "Why would she suspect us?"

"I can't even say for sure she doesn't trust you." Emmi said. "Just that she lied to you."

"Matsuda... why?" Tsuneo whispered in shock.

"I thought you would like to know." They said. "Sorry for waking you up." They paused. "That's what people do, right? Apologize when someone doesn't like the thing they do?"

"Yeah, Emmi." I was glad even if she had only learned a little.

"Great!" They said. "I have to do that to everyone else I think too. None of them were happy after I appeared. I made a huge mistake, and I've got to clean up after myself."

"Good luck," I said. "Can you leave now, though, I do appreciate the information, but I think I appreciate sleep a little bit more."

"Yeah, sure, I'll try to tell you anything else important at a more reasonable hour." They smiled and left for the exit. The sound of the door opening and closing was kind of calming. I went back to my bed, but I couldn't sleep anymore. It was frustrating, but I laid there awake until I started to hear Tsuneo snoring lightly, at which, I got up and started to write more. He slept until the morning announcement.

We went to the dining hall, where everyone ended up eating leftover pasta for breakfast. The taste was beginning already to be tiring, but it made it so I wasn't hungry anymore at least, and it freed up the majority of my morning to spend time with someone.

I met Hiniwa outside the theater. He looked deep in thought about something.

"Oh, do you really want to talk to me?" He asked. "Alright, we can hang out. I'm not very good at keeping up a conversation though."

"That's okay." I said. "Just say what comes to mind, you'll hit a good topic eventually."

"Are you sure?" He asked. "I think that sounds dangerous, couldn't you hit on a subject the other person didn't like? I'd hate to make a bad impression on you, your brother already seems to despise my very being."

"Why would you say that?" I asked. "What gave you the idea that Tsuneo doesn't like you? I'm sure you're wrong."

"You really must not be as perceptive as I thought you were," He laughed. "No, I don't think anyone likes me much, but he really hates me. They'll all put up with me, sure, but that's all. Really most of them seem uneasy around me."

"I wonder why?" supposed. "Maybe it's your accent, you sound like the villain in a super hero movie, all British and stuff, or like the comrade who turns against everyone last minute." He laughed again.

"Wouldn't that be something! Imagine me, an evil interstellar power sent to earth to destroy Hope's Peak Academy!"

"That would be hilarious!" I laughed with him. "But, I'm sorry, Hiniwa-kun, I just couldn't take you seriously as a villain, you seem too nice to me!"

"Really? Thanks!" He seemed happier at the comment than I expected.

"Why do you have that accent though?" I asked. "I'm sorry to say so, but it sounds really fake."

"Oh no, really?" He sighed. "That's disappointing, I've been practicing."

"Yeah, but why?"

"I don't know, I guess I just got bored, or frustrated. You remember what my talent was, right?"

"Ummm, Super High School Level Croquet Player, right? I guess it suits you, a little bit."

"Yeah, a little, but you know, it's a not a popular sport, anywhere." He looked disheartened. "People associate it with either the backyard version that no one is good at, or even knows the rules of, or of old timey British rich people playing it while laughing at the lower class. Like minigolf, but more pretentious, and I must admit that's basically what it is, but it means more to me than that, I think."

"You think?"

"I didn't want to tell anyone else, but, since you're even worse off," he paused and took a deep breath. "I can't remember much of my talent, it's all fuzzy, yeah? But I still get some things. So maybe I'm a bit better off than you or Ajiyama-kun, but I think not much more."

"Why wouldn't you tell anyone though?" I asked, shocked. "That seems really important, like super major!"

"They're already uncomfortable around me," he said. "And I saw how they reacted when you revealed your lack of a talent, they weren't happy, I don't want them to think worse of me than they already do."

"I'm telling you, they don't hate you, they can't."

"They still don't actually like me. No one has actively chosen to talk to me except you this one time. I'm sure Matsuda-san wouldn't choose me so often if I weren't her teammate."

"Are you sure? I thought for sure she favored you at least. She seems more comfortable when you're around."

"Does she? I'm never around when I’m not around, I wouldn't have known, right?"

"Heh," I snickered. "You've even got a sense of humor, why wouldn't she like you?"

"I wasn't trying to be funny, but okay." He gave a faint smile. "I hope you're right. I really do, it'd be awesome if you were."

"I hope so too, you deserve it!" I smiled back at him. His had broadened now, and he was beaming. "Why would you think she didn't like you?"

"She always seemed so angry around me, and tense, like something was wrong."

"She's always like that, though. Did you think it was your fault? Because it's not, she's just uncomfortable around people of all sorts I'm pretty sure."

"I could see that being true." He said. "Still, it's hard to believe she actually doesn't hate me. It seems like she hates everyone."

"It does, but even then, she hates you a little bit less than the rest of us." I said. "I'm sure she's just nervous though, it looks like you are too most of the time, but you're less vocal about it."

"Huh? Really?" He looked confused for a second. "I didn't think I got nervous, I just, just, no one really likes me, right? So why bother acting confident about something that isn't true."

"See, but right now you are being confident about something that isn't true." He shot me a puzzled look. "You keep insisting everyone hates you, but no one does. You've done nothing wrong, and you can stop worrying yourself over it."

"Hmm, I don't think I can trust myself enough to do that." Hiniwa said. "Or anyone else, I'm not ready to change, and I'm okay with that, and with all the extra grief it gives me."

"If you say so," I hesitated.

"It's better not to trust anyone in a situation like this. Kaisui was proof." I couldn't really respond to him bringing that up again. "He trusted Kawada-san, and now look where he is, buried in the cold hard ground. For all I know, you could have a knife on you, and be planning to stab me the first time I turn around. I've been so foolish letting you stay so long, telling you my secret, so to make up for it, I must leave, but not until you leave first. I don't want you following me."

He stood there, unmoving, until I left, after which I assume he eventually left. I felt awful. Had I brought this out in him? Would it have happened eventually anyways? He didn't look happy at least. It had been a complete turnaround, I really wished that had gone better, but it didn't, and I would have to deal with the consequences. I didn't hate Hiniwa, but he hated me.

I did leave earlier than I had expected, which left me with some of the morning, and most of the afternoon still to spend before the party. I wandered up the stairs of the main building to find Keina in the Art Study.

"Yo, Ajiyama-chan!" Xe shouted. "You lookin' for something?"

"Not really," I sighed. "Just kind of wandering around, you know?"

"Yeah, I get it." Xe said. "This atmosphere kinda fucks you up a bit, sometimes you've gotta get away and just not think for a while."

"I guess you could call it that."

"Well whatever it is, it's okay." Xe smiled. "People gotta do what people gotta do!"

"That sounds exactly like a comment from the Super High School Level Rights Activist."

"Oh yeah, that..."

"What's wrong? Is it something about your talent?"

"I guess so, kind of," Xe looked down, but started moving towards the shelves on the wall. "It's just, you know, I feel like it's not really a talent. It's more like I've been labeled as the Ultimate Queer more than anything else, because I'm not any better than anyone else, right? I don't think so, anyways."

"Well, there's got to be some reason, right?" I asked. "You do things outside of queer rights as well, right?"

"Yeah, I march for a lot of things. Wherever there's someone fighting for a good cause and I can make it I do my best to help them."

"Then that's a reason, right?"

"But I'm not doing anything spectacular, I'm just being a decent human being."

"The sad part is though, not very many people are decent then."

"Yeah, not many are. They don't want other people to enjoy life, as long as theirs is okay."

"Exactly then, see, you care about people who aren't like you, that's a good value, Keina-san."

"No, it shouldn't be good, it should be normal, and that's the worst part." Xe grunted, stretching to move around different paints and materials on the upper shelves. "Straight People, Cis People, they don't care about queer rights. Wealthy white men don't care about anyone else in the lower classes around them, neurotypical and able-bodied people don't care for any disabled people, it just doesn't happen, but it should."

"You're a good person." I said. "You are, even if no one else is."

"Thanks," xe sighed. "I just wish things were different." Xe pulled down a couple tubes of paint from the shelf and set them on a nearby stool.

"Are you going to paint something?" I asked.

"Maybe," xe said. "I was actually hoping I could find something cool or useful."

"I don't think there will be anything." I said. "But good luck, right?"

"Right, thanks."

"Do you need any help?"

"Yeah, I guess I could take some, it's pretty obvious I'm kind of short, yeah," xe said. "I can't reach anything. Could you find me a short stool or something I won't fall off of."

"I can try, you sure you don't want me to just look?"

"Yeah, but then I wouldn't have anything to do." Xe sighed. "Just find something, please?"

"Okay." I said, and I went about the room looking for something that matched the description. There were a lot of stools, but most of them looked too tall and too dangerous. Eventually in a far corner of the room, away from the door I found a short one, just the right size to use as a stepstool. I shouted to Keina.

"Hey! I found one!"

"Great, bring it over here! I've gone through everything I can reach already." Xe shouted back. It was rather dramatic for just being on opposite sides of the room, but I rushed over and placed the stool on the ground. Xe went to step up on it, but must have stumbled, as in the next second I heard a tearing sound, and we were both on the ground, with my head between xyr legs.

I scrambled back, struggling to push the stool out of my way and apologize. I brought my hand up to try and cover my eyes, and managed to get less tangled up in the process.

"Shit shit shit," Keina cursed, doing xyr best to get out of that situation as well "Don't look, alright, just don't look."

"I'm not" I promised. "I'm not, I swear, I would never even try to."

"I'm not talking about peeping up my skirt, asshole." Xe said. "You think I don't wear underwear or some shit? Disgusting."

"No, but," I was sitting up by then, still doing my best to cover my eyes and not look. "What exactly are you worried about then?"

"It's nothing, it's nothing, shit." I heard something get knocked off the shelf from frantic movement. "How the hell am I gonna fix this, goddamn."

"Are you sure you're really alright?" I asked.

"Wow, Ajiyama-chan, you look ridiculous." Xe let out a strained laugh. "You can uncover your eyes now, there's pretty much no way to avoid you seeing at this point."

I opened my eyes carefully as I got up and dusted off my skirt, to find that Keina's stockings had been ripped to shreds. What was underneath did not look like human skin. "Are you alright?" I asked.

"Maybe, I guess so." Xe said. "What's the point of avoiding monokuma's motive if someone just found out my secret anyways though. Shit."

"What is that secret, exactly?" I asked. It seemed rather unclear.

"Prosthetics." Xyr voice was solemn. "I don't like talking about it though, but I don't know how I can avoid someone seeing me on my way back to my cabin to get new socks."

"Soushin-san never knew?"

"I don't think she cared enough to comment if she did, but what does that have to do with it?"

"Nothing really I guess, but if she didn't care, what makes you think anyone else would."

"You live a very sheltered life." Xe said. "And I'm sorry, but I can't explain really. There is a lot of stigma against disability in modern society, it's just not as commonly rioted against as other causes."

"I think you'd be surprised." I said. It didn't look like xe believed me. I couldn't say I believed me either.

"Regardless, I'm not going out there, and that means I'm stuck here."

"Do you really have to be so pessimistic?"

"Yes." Xe was dead serious. "I'm not going out there, nothing will change my mind.

"Then would you like me to stay and talk with you until you feel comfortable leaving?" I asked. "Maybe we could find some sewing supplies in here to fix your socks."

"I find that doubtful." Xe said. "I've searched this place up and down."

"Then we'll search it again," I decided. "What harm could it do?"

"A lot." Xe sighed. "But I guess there are no better options."

We started to look. There were a lot of shelves in the Art Study, all considerably stocked. Some high, some low, but none of them seemed to have any sewing supplies. I couldn't see why, I had always thought sewing a type of art. After a while, Keina broke the silence first.

"Doesn't it get boring helping people all the time?" Xe said.

"No, not really." I replied. It was a bland conversation topic.

"But, like..." Xe sighed. "Don't you ever do something for yourself, to make yourself feel happy?"

"Helping others does make me feel happy." I said.

"Still, don't you have any interests or hobbies or anything?"

"I might have before," I said. "But, you know."

"Oh," Xe paused. "right,"

A few more minutes of silence.

"Look, I'm sorry-" xe started.

"No, it's fine," I said. "I'm more worried about you, how're you going to get anywhere if you don't want anyone to see you?"

"I'll find a way, don't worry about me."

"I can't help it, I worry about everyone."

"Well, just know we worry about you too." Xe said.

My eHandbook buzzed in my pocket. I shrugged to Keina and took it out to check it. It was from Miyano.

"Aji-chaaaaaan!!!! Help!!! Meet me @ freezer isle at foodmart!!!! Hurry!!!! (ᗒᗣᗕ)՞!!"

It was a strange text, and even stranger nothing had been misspelled, even if abbreviated, but the request was simple, I bid Keina farewell to go to foodmart and help with something important, probably. So I went quickly to meet her, and ended up finding her just there in the freezer isle, lying on the ground nearly crying with a toppled over shopping cart and a swung open freezer door nearby.

"You're here, finally." Miyano groaned, putting on an act like she was close to death, looking like she was bemoaning and dreading her inevitable demise by the frozen pizza. She got up though, which was better, because it meant I didn't have to look down on her. "There's way too much stuff! And I can't tell what's good and what's not, and what will be easy enough to cook with my miniscule culinary skill."

"Scratch that last problem." I told her. "I'll help, and don't even try to stop me, it won't work. This way we only have one set of criteria."

"Still, how are we supposed to figure out which type is the best? I don't want to choose a crappy pizza, it would ruin the entire thing, and we need all sorts of other things too." She sighed. "Lots and lots of popcorn, but that's microwave, I can make it fresher, right?" Far too stressed over just food, I thought.

"It is frozen pizza, do you actually expect much from the quality anyways?" I asked, she laughed in response.

"No, I guess not, but still, what if it tastes so bad it ruins the movies I have picked out?" She sighed, even louder than before. "No, you're right, I'll just pick one at random, how many boxes do you think we'll need? Ten? Twenty?"

"Two will be plenty, I'm sure" I suggested. "There's only six of us after all, and you seem to be planning for much more than pizza."

"Nothing less than a feast will do." She stated, stomping her foot in accent. "and there's so much here, why not take advantage? I guess two will be enough though, then." She picked the empty shopping cart back up, and plopped two boxes inside of it. "Fries are next, and then mozzarella sticks, and do you think any popcorn kitchen?" She didn't wait for an answer. "No, those are never good. You know, I really should have made a list for this."

"It would've made it easier." I agreed. "Hey, we need sweet snacks too though, right, Miya-chan?"

"Oh yeah! Twizzlers and pocky and fruit gummies, but not lemon ones. There's still a ton of stuff to get!" She beamed, and set to work putting anything and everything in the shopping cart that looked good. It was over filled by the time we left. I almost forgot we didn't have to pay at the cash register, it felt wrong not to. We went to the kitchen next, using the shopping cart to carry the food the whole way, and it took little time.

"Aji-chan, you can stay here and do oven work, right?" She asked, nearly as soon as we had entered. "I've got to set up the teal cabin for tonight."

"Sure, I can do that." I said. I didn't know why I agreed, it was very boring being left to cook mountains of food, but it gave something to do, and it was very easy. Set the oven to warm up, put the food in, set the timer, and then wait. I couldn't leave though, I might miss the timer going off despite the blaring noise, and then the pizza undoubtedly would be awful. So I stayed there, bored out of my mind.

Only once I was taking the food out of the oven and transporting it to containers I could carry it in did I realize I could have invited someone to come and talk there while I waited. I sighed in recognition of my failure and texted Miyano to come help me carry the food.

She took less than half of the pile, but I didn't mind. We still managed. She didn't let me inside though, just told me to leave the food on the doorstep, so I went back to the green cabin to get ready myself, and change into more appropriate attire for a sleepover. No matter how comfy my sweater was, my dress wasn't, and no one looks good in all beige. I took my pajamas and used those, it was a slumber party after all, no one should have minded.

I was very excited, I had to admit, this was going to be fun, I would make sure it would be. Not that I had to though, I trusted Miyano's judgment. Tonight was going to be awesome.

I arrived early, around 7, but there had been no scheduled time, and I knew she must have been ready by then. The door opened, and I was greeted with a smile, once she had saw it was me, I couldn't help but smile too.

"Aji-chan!" she welcomed. She wasn't wearing her hoodie like normal. "You're the first one here, you can come in, just shut the door behind yourself." I entered, and the cabin was identical in structure to my own, and had the same kitchenette, but everything else varied. The walls were decorated with posters from anime of all types and intricately designed muskets as well. There was a display cabinet too, a bit more than half figurines, the other half guns, still on display. Miyano claimed she didn't want to mess up while getting rid of them as the reason for why they were still there, but it was obvious she still missed him. I didn't bother to take more than a glance at his side of the sleeping area. He deserved mourning, but it would be hard to avoid it while travelling between the kitchenette and monitor we would be watching. Hopefully it wouldn't be too much an issue.

"Hmmm" Miyano hummed. "I've got a game console too, we wouldn't want to start a movie before everyone gets here, or sit around doing nothing. Do you want to play a game for a bit? I've got Mario kart."

"Sure," I said, she handed me a controller, but it wasn't what I'd expected, I'd only ever seen pictures of game controllers, never actually looked at one up close, and this one was different from all I knew, more like a TV remote than what I thought it would be, but with less buttons. Miyano saw my confusion and launched an explanation on how to use it.

"Hold it long ways with the t-shaped button on the left, tilt to change direction, press two to go, and the button on the back to fire power ups." She pointed to some of them as she spoke, and showed me how to hold it. "It's weird, I've never met someone who hadn't at least seen a wii before. You sure are a project, Aji-chan."

"I might've seen it before." I defended. "I just, don't remember."

"Oh well," Miyano sighed. "Doesn't matter much, I was gonna beat you anyways." The screen lit up, and after a few selection scenes (I chose the blonde in the pink dress), we started to race. I hadn't noticed the track Miyano selected, but it was bright and rainbow colored, and probably very slippery, as my cart kept falling off. It seemed to go on forever. The first time through Miyano got first overall, and I got 11th, by some miracle. She looked happy though and that was enough for me.

The doorbell rang again before she could challenge me to a rematch, and I stayed there while she went to answer it. I heard her talking, greeting them probably, and she walked back in, Emmi in tow, and carrying a perturbed expression.

"Did you invite them?" She demanded.

"No, no, I didn't, I swear." I honestly didn't know why Emmi was there.

"If you don't want me here, I can leave." Emmi interrupted, before a true argument could break out. "I just thought it would be more fun than sitting around the warehouse alone, and as far as I knew, the only condition for attendance was that no one identifying as male was allowed, and last time I checked-"

"That's enough." Miyano stopped her. "If you insist on being here, I can allow it, but if something goes wrong, you're the first to leave."

"I hold a deep gratitude for your decision, thank you, Miyano-san." Emmi bowed. "I understand many of you are still wary of my motives, however innocent they may be."

"You're also kinda freaky." Miyano explained. "Taking the face of a dead friend, but you're very different. If I had to illustrate this party I would dread drawing you."

"This is true." Emmi agreed. "But you've got to realize, I did not chose my face, and neither did you."

"Tru." Miyano sighed. She handed the third remote to Emmi, who seemed to understand much better than I did how it worked, it was frustrating. The screen started up again on the wavy and way too colorful road. I think I did much better that time, I got 8th, Emmi got 4th, and shrugged it off as being 'out of practice'. The doorbell rang, and I almost missed it with the upbeat music in the game. Miyano, however, paused and jumped up immediately. I didn't hear any talking this time, maybe she had been yelling at Emmi when they showed up.

Miyano reappeared this time slower than before, and less angry, like she was coaxing a nervous deer instead of a stubborn stray cat.

Matsuda appeared, quivering, and she was biting the nail of her first finger. She whispered something under her breath, either a greeting or an insult. She sat down quietly, almost leaning on the room divider, but choosing the bed instead, with a look like she remembered some awful event. She wrapped her trench coat tightly around herself without saying a word.

"I'm glad you made it, Matsuda-san." I said. She almost smiled, and buried her face into her scarf. She mumbled something. I could see the very tips of her ears, and they were pinker than usual. It fit well with her red framed glasses.

"I'm getting drinks!" Miyano announced. "I've got just about every flavor imaginable. What do you all want?"

Matsuda lifted her head temporarily to place an order. Her cheeks were tinted red as her ears. "Green apple? D-do you have th-that?"

"Yup! So a green apple for Matsuda-chan!" Miyano said, Matsuda wriggled her head back under the scarf. "What do you want, Aji-chan?"

"Me?" I asked. She nodded. "Melon?" She nodded again.

"I won't take anything." Emmi said. "Thank you, though."

"Okay!" I'll be right back!" Miyano rushed to the kitchenette, and she came back with three bottles of soda, three straws, and three more people, Keina, Soushin, and Odori.

"Yo yo yo! We're here! The party can start now, right?" Soushin shouted. She seemed excited, less reluctant than the majority of the other attendees.

Odori sat uncomfortably on the bed, but Keina plopped unceremoniously on the floor in front of her, she seemed to soften at that.

Soushin took a seat alarmingly close to me, and wrapped her arm over my shoulders.

"Hey! It's Ajiyama-chan! Nice to 'see' you!" Soushin used finger quotes around the word 'see'. "Whatcha playing? Sounds great, I wish I could play video games once in a while."

"It's Mario kart." Miyano answered for me. She reclaimed her spot as she handed me the melon soda and a matching green straw. Her soda was pinkish, strawberry, maybe? She took a huge sip, nonetheless. "Hey, Keina-san, you should join us next round, we've only got one race left on this one."

"Yeah, sure, but I play second controller, ok?" xe said. Apparently that was me, and in the next round I was in the bottom right corner, it was different, but I was bad anyways. Everyone finished the race before me.

We played one full round, and halfway through the next, Soushin groaned loudly. Even Matsuda looked up, the flush had faded from her face by now.

"This is sooooooooo boooorrrriiiing." Soushin complained. "I can't even see what's going on, just flashing lights, background music and sound effects. Can't we do something else? You promised a movie."

"I do have movies, but I thought everyone was having fun doing this." Miyano said. "I'm sorry."

"I'm kind of b-bored too." Matsuda said. "What movies d-do you have? If I may ask."

"Hmm, I dunno, they were on the shelf when I got here, I haven't watched them yet."

"Grossssss." Soushin whined. "I bet the guys are having way more fun in their 'male bonding' excursion. Wait." She stopped. "That gives me an idea."

"You couldn't be suggesting we snoop, right?" Emmi asked.

"We're doing this man, we're making this happen." Soushin declared. "The nighttime announcement is sure to hit soon, we've got to set up a battle plan."

"W-wait," Matsuda stammered. "What exactly are you p-planning to do?"

"All in due time, Matsuda-chan!" Soushin was grinning from ear to ear. "Alright! Let's get to work then. There's a few too many of us, so we can't all take the front line! Matsuda-chan, Ajiyama-chan, and Miyano-chan! You'll come with me on the primary mission! Odori-san, you probably don't want to feel involved with this, right?"

"You are correct in this assumption." Odori said, in disgust, or contempt.

"Great! Then you can stand guard, alright?" Soushin didn't wait for another answer before continuing, full force. "Emmi-san, you take scanning duty, make sure no one suspects us before we enter, and Keina-san, can you be a spy? Make up some silly back story excuse to lower the guard of the prey."

"I'd rather stand guard with Odori-san, actually." Keina said. "If that's okay."

"I'm sure it won't matter, of course!" Soushin shrugged, but did not lower her tone. "Guys are oblivious anyways. They'll probably be having some 'manly' battle of endurance, they won't notice us anyways."

"What are you trying to make us do, Soushin-chan?" Miyano asked. "I don't know if anything good will come of this."

"What're you talkin' about? This is a great idea!" Soushin decided. "Okay then, everyone knows their position? Hold until the nighttime announcement, and then move out! We've got to be precise, so forward team, just follow my lead."

As soon as monokuma's voice passed, Soushin jumped up and waved for us to follow. I still had no idea what was going on, but it didn't look like Matsuda or Miyano did either, only the captain Soushin Ritsu had any plans for our course of action. She marched on in confidence.

We stopped once we reached the entrance to the bathhouse. The true meaning of this "mission" dawned on me, but I found myself not really caring for some strange reason. Keina and Odori took their guard positions on either side of the door, and Emmi was the first inside, in order to "scan" the area. Soushin was especially careful about not letting the door slam behind them. They cam out less than a minute later saying it was "clear". Soushin ushured us in with a whisper and careful door holding. Even the reception area had steamed up.

"A-are you sure we should be d-doing this?" Matsuda stumbled. Her glasses had fogged up, along with Soushin's. "Th-this doesn't seem very honest, i-in my opinion that is,"

"Silly, silly, Matsuda-chan." Soushin teased. "You're a scholarly person, don't you know the phrase Carpe Diem? Sieze the Day!"

"What does b-butchered Latin have to do with-"

"Nope, no talking, you'll blow our cover." Soushin hissed. "Just follow me, seriously." She spent an exaggerated five minutes tip toeing towards the door to the men's changing room and throwing strange meaningless hand signals to us as instruction.

Eventually we passed through that door, and even though thousands of alarms were going off in my head, nobody stopped us. Only the creaking floorboards were evident of our location. The steam was thicker here, I could barely see through it, that didn't stop Soushin though. She plowed through the benches cluttered with discarded clothing and with each step my heart beat got louder in my ears.

We reached a glass door, and in favor of not letting quickly fleeing steam out by opening it, I smudged away some of the condensation with my sleeve, it was cloudy, but there was no denying the view.

Soushin made a move to shout, but Miyano clamped her hand over her mouth before any noise could escape and shushed the one who had gotten us into this situation. Miyano looked through the cleared spot without moving her hand. Matsuda looked over my shoulder and gasped, just quietly enough.

We left soon after that, and watched bad movies in Miyano's cabin until dawn as I tried to purge the event from my memory. The one movie Matsuda had brought made me cry near the end, but we watched a funnier one afterwards. The ordering more ruined the funny movie than made anyone feel better, but we all laughed. We were even able to squeeze in Miyano's favorite movie, Battle Royale, before we all fell asleep, with her whispering to me that we had to watch the sequel together some time.

END DAY 3

 


	15. Chapter Three: Treatment for a Snake's Venom: Daily Life- Day 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Regular updates have resumed! Check in every Friday at 8:30 EST!

Something smelled nice, I thought, and while my eyes were still closed I tried to take a better whiff of it, but within only a few seconds my nose had shifted and touched something sticky. I jumped up with a start and looked around, to find a half-empty soda bottle spilled out on the floor. It was melon.

Oh right, I forgot I was here, I must have gotten pretty tired with the party last night, it felt like I was waking up hours late, past noon, which, of course, made me feel awful. It was a drowsy morning, something anyone else would try to enjoy by rolling back over and falling asleep again, but I hated waking up late.

A quick glance at the nearby clock told me it wasn't too late, just past 7, and the morning announcement, but most everyone was gone already. Miyano whispered something in half-sleep.

"We should do this, like, every day." It was a sweet sentiment, but I couldn't afford too much thought to it. Emmi had gone what seemed like a long time ago, her movement roused me in the night, probably leaving to her newfound home in the warehouse. Matsuda had left as well early, probably to the graves again, and then to the kitchen to make breakfast.

Miyano tugged on my shirt as I got up, but her grip wasn't too strong, and her hand slipped off easily. I left to my own cabin to get changed, which didn't take too long, and then to breakfast afterwards, even though it was late.

There were a reasonable amount of pancakes available today, Matsuda had definitely handled breakfast. They tasted delicious, as usual, and were perfect in appearance as well, from what my still blurry eyes could see. I ate until I was full, and the bustling dining hall settled down into quite conversation as I did so. People were smiling, cheery, all the stress had melted away, and everything was perfect.

Everything froze in the next second.

Despair tainted the food on the table, the air in my lungs, the gravity of the situation fell down on me all at once and I collapsed. The area around me fell to ruin and I choked. I doubled over in pain and sobbed, but I did not move.

I was frozen in despair. That was the day I died.

All at a single laugh.

"Upupupupupupupu!" the room shook with monokuma's appearance, or maybe it just felt that way. "I see you're all having fun, without me too!" He feigned disappointment, hanging his head. "Well that's no good! You see, I'm oh so boooored! *yawn~~* So, I've decided to give you all a brand new, bright and shiny motive, special edition! What's friendship without mutual killing? I'd say it's pretty close to being like a proper gentleman without a monocle, which is to say, he's not a very proper gentleman at all, now is he? So anyways, let's get to it!"

The room shook again, but this time it was not my imagination. Something was falling to the floor of the stage right in front of monokuma in large stacks.

"That's right, kiddos!" He shouted, popping up a bit harder to be seen over the pile. "Cold hard cash! Ten bajillion yen! Well, it's actually only ten million, but who cares, that's still a lot! Whoever is the next to kill can leave with their buddy, and all this moolah to build a livelihood on! Oh, and one more thing, you guys have already killed off five people, and I can't say I'm not proud, but my team system is in shambles! With so few of you even pertaining to that motive, I'm having to change it again! So, now, just for this round, or maybe longer if it turns up good results, I've got an alteration to the rule that you're all so familiar with!"

He laughed an again, and the stacks in front of him wavered indecisively, like they were about to fall over and crush him. I wish they had. "From now until the next murder, it doesn't matter who you kill, you can bring along whoever you like!" He said. "Still, only one carry-out per customer, please!" I wanted to escape this place, to flee and never come back, but I couldn't. I knew I was trapped, and I knew another murder was going to happen now, there was no preventing it. Anyone could be the victim, at any time, and all that damned bear could do was laugh.

It made me want to puke.

He left soon enough, after realizing he couldn't get any more of a rise out of us, and the money disappeared with him. We were left with a cold silence, and colder pancakes, but they tasted sour and bitter now, anything would have. I tried to leave, ignoring anyone else there, but Hensou caught me at the door.

"Ajiyama-chan, wait, can I talk to you a while? I swear it's important." His voice was a whisper, I was sure no one else could hear it.

"How do I know you're not going to try to kill me?" I asked, just over the same volume, just enough to convey annoyance. "And better yet, how do you know I won't kill you?"

"I trust you, Ajiyama-chan." His words hit me like a brick, that he could still trust me in a situation like this. "And, money is great and all, but there's something more important to me, and I can't meet her again if I got to hell for killing somebody."

"Fine," I relented. "On forest path 2, but not in any of the buildings, and don't leave at the same time as me, we'll look suspicious."

"Thank you, really, thank you." He let me leave after that, and I took a seat on an external bench along the forest path. It was airy here, lots of billowy white clouds and blue sky overhead. The leaves on the trees seemed too bright for the situation, and the wind swept at my hair, making it a struggle to keep it in place.

Hensou appeared, perhaps later than expected, but right on time, still. He sat next to me and took a few minutes to say the first word.

"So," but that was all he said. Not even a noun or a verb, a hasty conjunction connection silence to just more silence.

"Yeah." I agreed. It was a statement of emotion, I decided.

"I really can't believe there's another motive." He sighed. "Do you think this means someone's going to..."

"I don't want to." I said. "But lately I'm having more and more trouble keeping myself thinking positive."

"It's hard sometimes." He shook his head, as if disagreeing with himself. "No, most of the time, really. We barely had time to grieve the three of 'em before he came in and made that announcement. There's nothing good to make of it, he just hates us. That's okay though, I'm used to it."

"What do you mean?"

"No one's ever liked me. They all think I'm weird, or something, and I've tried to sound cool, like all the guys who were popular at my middle school, but it never works."

"I think you're going about it the wrong way." I explained. "When you first introduced yourself, that was you trying to be cool, right?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"That wasn't cool, that was misogynistic. Honestly, once you started cooking and opening up more you got to be a lot more likeable. And, that's the 'real' you, right?"

"I think so, but I'm not really sure anymore." He sighed, turning away from me for a few seconds and watching the trees.

"Just do what feels natural, then." I suggested.

"Hmm? Are you sure? That's never worked before. I was the weird creepy antisocial kid with the daredevil act until I got accepted into Hope's Peak. That's when everyone started showing interest. People I had talked to maybe once or twice were claiming to be my best friends in press releases. All for some dumb title I never wanted, and now this. Seriously though, what even is a Super High School Level Parachutist? What can I do that other people can't? Nothing useful in life, that's for sure."

"I think you have a lot more courage than most people." I said.

"What? Because I can jump out of planes without giving a second thought to my own safety? I don't think that's courage so much as my own idiocy."

"No, I think it's more than that. I mean this is in the nicest way Hensou-kun, but you're very strange." He gave me a sour look. "And I mean, just very different from what most people consider the skewed idea of 'normal', but you don't try to hide it. You embrace it as the part of yourself it is, and that's what's so brave. You've got yellow hair that's longer and greasier than most of the girls here, and you wear a bright red jumpsuit and goggles on the daily. You look amazing like that, but I don't think anyone else would wear those things unless it was for a joke. And you still do it. If that doesn't take courage than you're a whole lot more stupid than I thought."

"I'd have to think I'm just stupid then." He groaned. "Thanks for trying though, even if you did just point out every flaw I've been insecure about since I was five. Thank you for everything."

"Hey, stop talking like you're gonna go somewhere or something." I said. "You're not going anywhere if I have a say in it.

"Not even to leave?"

"Well, uh, I mean, I, uh, I guess, um"

"Yeah, I thought so." He sighed. "You're lucky, Ajiyama-chan, you still have a chance of your talent being useful in this situation. I bet whatever it is, it's a mile better than mine though, too bad you can't remember it."

"That doesn't matter." I shook my head. "You matter more to me than whatever silly talent I may have. Anything would mean more to me than that."

"Sorry,"

"No, it's fine, I didn't mean to go off on you."

"You didn't," He titled his head back and stared up at the sky. "I always feel bad complaining to other people though, are you sure I'm not bothering you?"

"I'm completely sure." I insisted. "You said you had something important to talk to me about when you asked me to meet you, so I'm going to listen."

"Can I be honest?" He looked back towards me. His eyes looked troubled. "I just wanted to talk to you in general. You're a nice person, Ajiyama-chan. I'm surprised there weren't hundreds of boys confessing their love to you in middle school, I think you'd remember that."

"You aren't planning to confess to me, are you?" I joked.

"No," he laughed. "You're great, really, but I'm still stuck on Otsuka, sorry. I would totally have cheered on a friend if he went after you, thought."

"I guess I appreciate the sentiment?" I laughed with him. "I wish we could've gone to class together at Hope's Peak, we would have had a great time."

"Yeah! Just like in that picture!"

I froze again.

"What picture?" I asked, tentatively.

"Oh, I found it in the theater, it's obviously fake though, despite what monokuma said about it being real."

"I don't get it, why would he lie about a picture?" I asked.

"Because of what it's a picture of." Hensou explained. He dug in his pocket and pulled a crumpled photo out.

Frigid, cracking pain ran through my head. I knew this photo, I had seen it before, but I couldn't place it. I shouldn't have seen it though, it was impossible. I stared at the photo, and Shiroju, Emiline, and Kaisui stared back out at me.

I screamed.

Or, I tried to, at least, but nothing would come out, just dry air. I was so terrified and confused that my voice would not work.

"A-Ajiyama-chan?" Hensou asked. "Are you alright?"

I shook my head, it was all I could do. I shoved the photo back at him, I couldn't think about it at a time like this. He tucked it back into his pocket.

We didn't talk for a while.

He left first, and I continued to sit there for a while, feeling petrified and unable to move, but I got up eventually.

Each lamented step grew the weight of the unknown heavier on my shoulders. I couldn't have been making much progress on this meaningless trek, the scenery did not seem to change. An ocean of green trees, interrupted solely by the dark brownish trunks and the faded dirt path, and whatever laid beyond.

More that I did not know.

My talent, even, was beyond my grasp, and every time I tried to think of it, I achieved nothing but a dull itching, burning sensation in the back of my mind. I could remember nothing, and it felt like I knew nothing as well. It was the most awful, most tragic, most despair-inducing series of emotions I'd ever experienced.

That was the word.

Despair.

I felt someone's hand on my shoulder and looked up, refocusing my eyes. Something green, and more green, and oh, it was Tsuneo. He was saying something, I refocused my ears as well.

"Hey, are you alright?" He asked.

"Huh, oh yeah, I'm fine." I said, weary and unable to think a better lie.

"You're obviously not fine if I had to ask you more than once." He insisted. "Come on, tell me what's up."

"I'm sorry, but I can't." I said. "I can't tell you this one thing, okay?"

"No it's not okay." He said. "Masuyo, you tell me everything, I'm here for you, you know that."

"I guess, yeah." I said. I put on a fake smile. "I'm just a bit tired right now, so I was going to go sleep for a bit, I was just going back to-"

"Bullshit." He stopped me. "You don't think I can read you better than that? I can't believe you would doubt me like that, but I guess it can't be helped. If you don't want to tell me you don't have to."

"Thanks, I-"

"Nope, I'm not done." He continued. "I'm still going to talk to you, even if you don't want to talk to me about your problems. I know you can't resist a good conversation."

My one true weakness.

We took refuge inside foodmart, and the bright colors forced me to wake up. Tsuneo got me a water from one of the coolers and we sat down, leaning against one of the register stations.

"So, anything you want to talk about?" He asked.

"The motive-"

"Not the motive." He said. "If we talk about that, your mental condition will only get worse, and it's bad enough as it is."

"Then do you have any ideas, genius?" I snapped. "There's not much going on, you know."

"And I'd rather keep it that way," He said. "The hectic life is too much for me, and I'd rather stay without any more murders, thank you very much."

"There don't have to be any murders for things to be more interesting." I said. "A lot of non-deadly things could happen."

"But do you see any of them happening?"

"No, but-"

"My point exactly." He said. "It's better to keep things safe, even if it makes it a little more boring."

"What's the point of boring though?" I asked. "If nothing happens, we'll lose track of time, and start getting used to this place."

"Would that really be so bad?"

"Of course!" I nearly shouted, and it echoed a bit in the empty store. "I don't want to spend the rest of my life wasting away in this hellhole, no matter how pretty it may look. I don't want to waste my life, under, under his control!" I gestured to one of the cameras. Tsuneo took a long drink from his own water bottle.

"Then don't," he sighed. "Really, there's more than two options here, you of anyone should know that. We don't have to kill anyone to get out of here, and we don't have to stay here either."

"What can we do though?" I choked. Tears started to form at the edge of my vision. I hated it. "What could we possibly do to stop another murder from happening?"

"Nothing really." He said. "But hey, we can prolong it as much as possible, right? Don't you remember what Yoshie always said, it just seems to make sense now."

"Yoshie?" I asked. "Why her, I mean," I thought back to the Yoshie that Tsuneo was talking about. Our younger sister, biologically, but we never met her more than a few times, I thought. She actually managed to travel with Mom and Dad on all of their trips, or maybe they just didn't trust the two of us to take care of her. My memory was still foggy of those times she had come to visit whenever our parents went overseas. She spent a lot of time playing handhelds while sitting upside down on the couch, she probably would have been a whole lot better at Mariokart than I was.

"Do you not remember her?" Tsuneo asked. "I know it's been a while, and with the amnesia and all,"

"No, I do remember her." I said. "Just, what do you mean what she always said, why is it important now?"

"There was that one phrase she repeated like a mantra." He explained. "It put even your optimism to shame, which is what I think we need right now."

"Hmm, I'd have to argue with that." I said. "I guess the wordy version would be, but the part she said a lot isn't at all."

"So, you remember it, then?"

"Yeah, I think so." I imitated Yoshie as I said it. "We learn from our mistakes just to make new ones."

"Exactly, but the rest of it, right," he said, putting on the same show I had. "But that's okay, the new ones aren't as bad."

"I never really got her." I laughed. "But I guess she was right, huh? Maybe it'll be even harder for there to be a new murder now that we've seen the consequences twice."

"That's the kind of thinking I'm used to with you." He smiled. "Now don't go trying to kill anyone, alright."

"I wouldn't, I wouldn't, I promise." I said.

We sat for a while longer, talking about little things in our past life, and remembering Yoshie. I hoped she was alright, better off than we were, at least.

I ate dinner and went to sleep soon after we finished talking. It had been a long day, and I fell asleep easily for once, it was a peaceful night, the calm before the storm.

END DAY 4

Someone was knocking on my door. I rolled over in bed, but they didn't stop, and I rolled again, falling to the floor with a thud. I somehow managed to get up and make my way to the door. Why wasn't Tsuneo still in bed?

I had only barely turned the knob when the door flew into my face. Miyano was standing there, looking terrified.

"Oh my god," she panted, after taking some time to gather her breath and her thoughts. "I'm so glad you're here, I can't imagine being able to do this without you."

"What's wrong?" I asked, rubbing the tiredness out of my eyes.

"It's already past eight, and people are still missing from breakfast!" She shouted, in my ear too, that really hurt. "Didn't you realize the time? We've got to go, right now."

"Wait, wait, you specifically said 'people', it wasn't just me?" I asked.

"No, it wasn't, but we need your help. We're meeting at the stairs in the main building, hurry up!" She let me not a word, and bolted away, towards the appointed meeting place. My mind was still running slowly, but I managed to process that I had a place I needed to go to, so I made my way there, albeit slower than I would have liked.

Most everyone was there by the time I showed up. I counted them up. Ten, including me, two people were missing. It wasn't just Emmi either, they were here and accounted for. I counted again and again, but each time I came up short.

"Thank god," Tsuneo said, relieved. "With the motive yesterday, and you were missing, and-"

"Wait," I stopped him. "People are still missing, our tearful reunion can wait."

"Yes," Emmi agreed. "The ones who are missing, it's Hensou Tetsuya, and Oshima Yutaka." I thought we were missing a tall presence in the group, and I had seen Odori. "We wanted to wait until only one person was missing to split up, but,"

"There's no time for that!" I shouted. "What were you thinking?"

"I've already checked the forest paths." Miyano said. "And everyone else has covered the buildings on the ground floor. I know it was stupid to wait, but we can start looking now, right? Let's split into three search parties. Two of three, and one of four."

"That sounds acceptable." Shibou spoke for all of us. "You, Miyano-san I mean, and Ajiyama Masuyo-chan can come with me for one of the groups of three."

"I'll go with Odori-san, Soushin-san, and Ajiyama Tsuneo-kun, yeah?" Keina asked. They seemed to agree.

"Then that leave Matsuda-san and Hiniwa-san with me, I believe." Emmi said. Everyone shifted a bit and moved into their groups.

"We'll take the Lab." Shibou suggested. "Emmi's group, take the Art Study, and Keina's take the Library. Those are all of the unsearched areas, I believe."

"Yeah," Miyano said. "I'm sure this is just an elaborate game of hide and seek, they're both okay."

"Sure." I wanted to believe that too, but it was difficult. We took a solemn march up the stairs, and left Keina there on the second floor. Xyr group immediately entered the library to start looking. I smiled at Tsuneo in silent farewell, just in case.

We departed with the other group at the top of the next flight of stairs. The Lab door looked ominous. I knew I had seen it before, but now I felt unprepared, and still, I was not in the lead, not in control. Shibou turned the knob painfully slowly.

Hmm, there was nothing of note there. No huge blood splatter, no knocked over tables or cabinets, just an empty Laboratory.  
Perhaps too empty.

Without a word, we went about searching every inch of the place. Each cabinet, each bottle, and clue to the situation.  
But we didn't get that far.

For the first time, I wasn't the one screaming.

Shibou and I rushed to Miyano's side, only to see the worst sight imaginable set up in the recess between two huge cabinets.

Hensou was dead. There was no way he couldn't be, no denying it. The announcement played with that annoying voice over the sound of our terror.

"A body has been discovered! After a brief period of investigation, the Class Trial will commence!"

I couldn't move for a second. Then, Keina burst through the door.

"Look, I know a body was just found, but there's something really important down in the Library and I swear you'll want to see it." Xe shouted, unnecessarily loud.

"We can't just leave the body here alone." I said. "Someone might mess with it."

"Then, let Miyano-san stay." Shibou said. "We don't have time to argue if it's really as important as xe says."

"Right, I'll do that!" Miyano said. "I promise not to let anyone touch anything!"

We rushed downstairs to the Library, but before Keina could show us the important thing, I heard an oddly robotic scream, and another one with it.

Keina agreed to wait as we sped back upstairs to the lab. Matsuda and Emmi had been the ones screaming, and there was good reason why.

Miyano lay dead on the floor. The announcement played again.

"A body has been discovered! After a brief period of investigation, the Class Trial will commence."

I broke down on my knees and cried. Matsuda stumbled something over the noise of my tears.

"B-but, how c-can there be thr-three bodies?" she asked, adding more to the senseless madness that was left of my life. Everyone who mattered was dead.

 

END Chapter 3 Daily Life.

9 students remain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On the second day of Christmas this author gave to you two fresh corpses, and protag who is in despair


	16. Chapter Three: Treatment for a Snake's Venom: Deadly Life

You've been hearing a lot of screaming lately, and not the good kind.

You apparently arrive late to the party, and the two announcements have already gone by. You feel useless, there was absolutely nothing good in the library.

Your legs get tired of the stairs very easily once you realize why you're going up them.

Still, you keep on moving forward, knowing that things will only get worse if you opt out of investigation. It seems to take forever, longer and longer with each step, but you get up eventually. There seems to be a bigger commotion coming from the Lab, so you go there first, in favor of finding the action quicker.

And find it you do.

Perhaps you're a bit desensitized by now, or maybe you just didn't care as much for these two, but seeing Miyano and Hensou doesn't cause you to break down or anything. Seeing Masuyo does, though. You feel really sorry for her, having lost two of her friends, but there isn't time for you to worry about that really. Who knows when monokuma will decide he's bored this time, and you'll be shot into the trial.

There really is no time to waste, but maybe, just maybe, you decide you'll waste it anyways. You get down on your knees next to Masuyo to try and comfort her, but you're quickly interrupted by another scream. It's Matsuda again, but she's a bit more coherent this time.

"I-It's a g-g-ghost!" She shouts, and you turn to see her pointing in the direction of the door. Turning further, you catch sight of Oshima, leaning heavily on Hiniwa and holding his head as he walks into the room.

"Hey," he groans. "Did I miss something?"

"You're supposed to be fucking dead!" Matsuda yells, continuing to deny reason. "What the hell happened?!"

"It's simple really!" Monokuma says, appearing as always out of nowhere. Matsuda jumps. "Oh, I won't be explaining that though. Really there's more than enough evidence for you guys to figure everything out, I shouldn't have to help you at all, but I'd get in trouble if I actually forced you kids to do an autopsy, so I'm here to deliver the friendly monokuma file!"

"Would you shut up already?" Shibou snaps. "Really, all you do is annoy us."

"Fine, sure, just know you won't be getting any more help from me!" monokuma says. He drops the folders on the ground and disappears. Honestly, why can't he walk in and out of the room like a normal person?

You grab one of the files for yourself and start to read it.

"<Monokuma File 3>

Victim #1: Hensou Tetsuya  
Time of Death: 1:30 a.m.  
Place of Death: The Lab  
Cause of Death: Poisoning

Victim #2: Miyano Mamiko  
Time of Death: 9:00 a.m.  
Place of Death: The Lab  
Cause of Death: Poisoning

Other Details: The two deaths are nearly exactly identical. Both victims were killed by the same poison, which causes the extremities to become darkened. The only wound between the two of them is a needle prick on the neck."

[Monokuma File 3 has been added to the truth bullets]

You turn your attention to the bodies. The monokuma file doesn't seem to be lying, but you'll have to check back in with Shibou later on just in case there's something it missed. He's already started to work there. Odori is standing nearby on guard. You give a cursory nod. Oshima doesn't seem up to it yet, but it'll be okay, right?

You decide to finish checking in on Masuyo. She's standing up now, and wiping tears off of her face as you approach.

"Hey, are you alright?" You ask. She faces you. The dried tears on her face are pretty obvious.

"I'm fine." She says. It's clear that she's not.

"Are you sure?" You insist. "The first step to getting better is admitting something is wrong in the first place."

"I said I'm fine." You decide not to push it. She'll be alright sorting it out on her own, you think. There are things a bit more important right now, like keeping her alive. "Hey, you didn't get a good idea of what was going on in the investigation did you? I can tell you what happened if you need me to."

"That sounds good, yeah." It could help get her mind off of things, or make it worse, you realize, but you need to know what happened regardless.

"Okay, well then, I think I was the last one to wake up, so Miyano came to our Cabin to get me and call me to the meeting. It was about 8:30 by the time I arrived, because I was a bit slow. Hensou and Oshima were still missing at that point, but we took a while talking, so it was already 8:45 by the time we split up to search for them. Miya-chan, Shibou-kun, and I went to the Lab here, where we found Hensou dead and the announcement played. Right after that though, Keina-san rushed into the room and called us down to the Library. We left Miya-chan to guard the body, but as soon as we had gotten down the stairs, we heard Matsuda-san and Emmi screaming, and rushed back up to find Miya-chan dead. We couldn't have been gone more than a minute or two."

"You've gotten a workout then." You joke. Masuyo laughs, but it's very weak.

"I guess." She agrees. She casts her eyes downward, staring at the floor. "Look if you need another recap of what happened with our team come talk to be again, alright? I don't think I've got anything else for you, but if I think of something, I'll give you a call, alright?"

[Masuyo's Account has been added to the truth bullets]

"Okay," you say. There's not much you can do for her at this point except try your best to escape the trial unscathed. Sticking around here won't help on that goal.

You decide to check out over where Hiniwa is trying desperately to explain something to Matsuda while Emmi backs her up and Oshima stands awkwardly nearby. Oshima looks like he could use someone to talk to, and Matsuda's reaction to his appearance makes him a very suspicious character.

"Please don't tell me you're going to call me a ghost too." He sighs as you approach.

"I'm not even sure why Matsuda-san was doing that earlier." you respond. "So don't worry, you're clear."

"Yeah, I don't think that's going to happen, but thanks anyways." he says. "I've got a lot of suspicious things about me since apparently I was missing during the murder, but I have an excuse, I swear!"

"What is this excuse then?"

"Someone attacked me, I think it was the culprit too," he says. "I promise I'm not lying I wouldn't kill anyone over something stupid like money, yeah?"

"I believe you Oshima," you interrupt. "I just don't understand the situation, alright? You're not actually telling me anything."

"He sh-shouldn't have to t-tell you anything!" Matsuda shouts. "I'm telling you, th-there's no way he isn't a g-ghost!"

"And why do you say that?" you ask. Hiniwa stutters in the background. "Seriously, what's going on here?"

"We found h-him dead in the Art Study!" Matsuda says, pointing an accusatory finger at Oshima. "The announcement p-played and everything! B-but now he's up and walking around like it w-was nothing! That's n-not allowed!"

"You're complaining about someone not being dead?" you point out.

"Th-that's not, u-um,"

"You're not even giving him a chance to speak up for himself." You continue. "If he has a testimony, it could give us so much information for the investigation."

"Then why doesn't he speak?" Emmi asks, joining in the discussion.

"No, A-ajiyama-kun is right." Matsuda says. "But hey, listen; you should hear what happened in our investigation first, al-fuckin'-right? There's no sense learning the back story without knowing the significance."

"Then tell him what happened already." Hiniwa pleads. "This is starting to drone on."

"Alright, alright, hey, I was the leader, wasn't I?" Matsuda asks roughly.

"Not really." Emmi shrugs. "But go on."

"Right, well, after we split up into groups, we all went to the Art Study, right?" Matsuda says. "Well, that was when all this crazy shit happened. We found Oshima-kun chillin' out against the wall not movin' and all that, and the announcement played, so the obvious assumption is that he's dead, right? But apparently no, I'm just throwing out random theories!"

"Matsuda-san, calm down." Emmi begs. "No one is accusing you of anything."

"Right, and no one can accuse me, anyways." Matsuda continues. "I have an alibi for Miyano-san's murder. After we had found Oshima-kun dead, Emmi and I went to go tell someone while Hiniwa-kun guarded the body. We never left each other's sights!"

"Well, yeah, I can't deny that." Emmi says. "We both have sound alibis for Miyano-san's murder then."

[Matsuda's Account has been added to the truth bullets]

"Then on the whole 'ghost' issue," you say. "There's no way monokuma would allow the culprit to kill three people at once, it's against his rules. He told that directly to me before the last trial. So it's safe to assume Oshima-kun isn't dead."

"Oh am I not dead? Thank god." Oshima says in response.

"It is still kind of suspicious that you were missing though." You address him. "And that you were found unconscious in the Art Study, do you have anything to say on the matter?"

"Well yeah, of course there's an explanation!" He says. "It's not like someone just broke into my cabin and carried me there."

"I doubt any of us would be strong enough to try anyways." Emmi says. "Although, I may be underestimating Odori."

"No, I think I would have noticed if it was her." Oshima says. "She has a very particular way of writing, and it doesn't match what was in my note."

"Note?" you ask. "What note?"

"Ahh, hold on." He reaches into his pants pocket to dig something out, and quickly retrieves it, handing it to you. "This was slipped under my door when I got home last night, it didn't say who it was from or anything."

"Meet me in the Art Study at midnight so no one can see us. It's very important."

[Oshima's Note has been added to the truth bullets]

"And you actually went to meet the person?" you ask, skeptically.

"Well of course! How rude would it have been if I hadn't?" he says. "Besides, it didn't seem too suspicious at the time. After a motive you wouldn't want someone to know the whereabouts of a secret meeting."

"That's exactly why you shouldn't have gone." Emmi sighs. "I guess it can't be helped, what happened once you got there?"

"Oh, well after I arrived, I didn't see anyone, so I walked into the room a bit, then I was assaulted from behind, I didn't see the person." He sighs. "I think I remember some sort of chemical smell, and something hitting my head before I passed out completely."

[Oshima's Account has been added to the truth bullets]

"Those t-two in tandem explain your h-headache at least." Matsuda says. "Still, d-do you think the culprit was t-trying to kill Oshima? There's no way th-they would purposefully give us m-more evidence to prove their g-guilt."

"There's no telling yet." Emmi says. "But hey, we can try our hardest at the trial."

"Right." you agree. There's still plenty of time left, and it doesn't look like Shibou needs your help at all, so you'll try to confirm what happened with your investigation team, what little it was. Soushin is talking vividly with Odori, until you approach.

"Hey, hey Tsuneo-chi, we were just talking about you!" Soushin says.

"Not really." Odori denies. "We were talking about what happened in the Library."

"That's actually what I came to talk about." You say. "I was hoping to confirm my train of thought."

"See, see! I was totally right! We were kinda talking about you!" Soushin insists. "Anyways, there's not much that happened, right? We met up with everyone else and when we split up we went to the Library. After the announcement, Keina said xe was going to go check everything out upstairs before xe left."

"But what xe said, it definitely contradicts with something someone else said." you say.

"Oh! How suspicious!" Soushin laughs. "You know xe's been acting strange for a while, xe didn't return home last night until like four in the morning."

"That's, definitely something important you should have said earlier." you say.

"Oopsie! My bad!" she laughs again. "I'll tell you if I remember something else! Things are definitely starting to get interesting!"

[Soushin's Account has been added to the truth bullets]

Shibou finally calls you over to look at what he's found. It's best not to make him wait, there's also probably a load of important things monokuma left out.

"So, I've got jack shit." He says, and you recoil a bit. "Sorry, I didn't mean to curse at you, but still, I'm a bit frustrated. All I've been able to do is confirm what that bear said, there's nothing else."

"Nothing at all?" you sigh, desperately.

"Pardon my French, but let me reiterate, jack shit." he says. "I can't tell what poison was used, only that it probably causes asphyxiation and kills quickly, and that the needle prick is the source of the poisoning."

"I guess that's a little, right?" you ask.

"A very small amount, it won't help at all I think." he says.

"You're selling yourself short." you say.

"Maybe, but I did find this in Hensou's pocket. Maybe it's important." he says, and he hands you another note. The handwriting looks nearly the same, no, it is the same as that on Oshima's note.

"Meet me at the Lab at 1 am so no one can see us. It's something very important."

[Hensou's Note has been added to the truth bullets]

"This is definitely important." you say. "Especially considering the time of death in comparison."

"I guess I'm good for something." Shibou sighs. Something on his other side catches your eye.

"Hey, what's that, another note?" you ask.

"Oh this, it's probably nothing, I mean, there's no way it's related to the murder at all, besides that it was in Miyano's pocket." he says. "You can look at it, I don't know what it'll tell you, though." he hands the note to you.

"Meet me in the dining hall at 3 this afternoon for tea maybe? I'll see you there."

[Miyano's Note has been added to the truth bullets]

"Are you, are you sure these are actual words?" You ask. "This is absolutely horrid handwritting."

"Yes, I know." Shibou agrees with a look of disgust on his face. "It's nearly unreadable."

"It doesn't match the other two notes at all." You say. "And I guess I can see why you didn't think it was related to the case. The timing doesn't even match up."

"Exactly." Shibou says. "You can keep it anyways, though. I don't really need it any more."

"Thanks." You reply. You realize now that there's not anyone else to talk to really, so it's time to start investigation of the crime scene. There's only one trash can in the room, you notice, and it's looking more and more suspicious as a good place to stash the murder weapon.

You almost get knocked back by the smell as you approach it. It's absolutely putrid, but the investigation is more important, so you bite it and look in anyways. There's actually not much in here, just a damp cloth and a few empty bottles. This is incredibly unsafe but you pull out the cloth to look at the stuff underneath. There's actually two bottles in here, and oh my god that's a syringe, that's really unsafe. You carefully avoid the needle point, pulling the two bottles out. They're both the same shape size and color, but the seals are different. On one of them, there is only a very small hole off center, but the seal on the other one is completely torn off. The labels on both bottles are torn, but between the two of them you can make out the name at least.

"Diaspara Toxin- Single Dose"

[Empty Bottles has been added to the truth bullets]

As far as you remember Toxins are Poisons, so this is a strong contender for the murder weapon at least. You consider the cloth.

It's definitely the source of the smell. Or, whatever it's been soaked in at least.

[Dirty Cloth has been added to the truth bullets]

You put everything back into the trash can and wash your hands thoroughly in the nearest sink. There's not enough soap in the world to get rid of that smell, but you can always try. Masuyo comes up behind you before you finish, startling you as she begins to speak.

"Hey, Tsuneo," she says. You jump. "Ah! Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, is the water too hot? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." you insist. "Stop worrying about me. What was it you were going to ask about? Surely it couldn't have actually been the temperature of the water I was using."

"Oh, right, yeah, that!" She says. "I was going to investigate in the Art Study, since neither of our teams looked there, I thought it might be important, and I wanted to invite you to come with me."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." you agree. "There's probably something related to whoever attacked Oshima-kun there."

"That's exactly what I thought!" She smiles. "Anyways, we should get going before monokuma calls us to the trial, there's no time to lose!"

You nod, and the two of you leave the lab to walk quickly across the hall to the Art Study. Shortly inside the room, a familiar smell comes to you again.

"Oh god, what is that?" Masuyo asks. "It's awful!"

"Yeah, and this isn't the first time it's come up in the investigation." you respond. "Where's the trash can in here?"

"It's right by the door I think, why?" she says, but you've already taken to searching through the trash, again. This is really a bad habit to be making.

However, within seconds you've found another white cloth drenched in the stuff. Whoever was using this chemical was really bad at dosages. Farther in the trash, you find a bottle, not like the other two, but obviously not of origin in the Art Study.

"Hey, what are you doing? Stop rummaging through trash cans!" Masuyo says.

"But I've found something important." You argue. "If you would just give me a second to read the label,"

"Fine, whatever, just don't touch me with that stuff, it smells awful." she says, and you look back to the bottle. It has a whole bunch of information here, not like the other two, and it's very suspicious.

"It's chloroform." you say, reading it.

"That would make sense, yeah." Masuyo says. "But what is it doing in the Art Study? Shouldn't it be on the Chemistry shelves in the Lab?"

"That's exactly why it's important." you say.

[Dirty Cloth has been updated in the truth bullets]

"Anyways," you continue. "You've actually been here before, is anything out of place?"

"Actually, yeah, but not too out of place, you know." Masuyo says. "There are a few out of place stools and all that, but nothing really catches the eye."

"Nothing at all? That's disappointing." you say. "I was hoping there would be more clues."

"Oh, but there is something!" She says, and you hope you're not pushing her too much to work under such conditions. "Umm, on that shelf over there, things have obviously been moved around a little, maybe that's important."

"We should check it out, anyways." You say, and head towards the aforementioned shelf. A lot of the bottles of paint here look dented and messy, but still really full and unused. It is rather suspicious. You start to pick up one to inspect it when a wood panel on the back of the shelf flies open and practically catapults at least twenty bottles across the room. A few of them spill out on the floor. Masuyo stands flabbergasted and laughs nervously.

"Sorry, I would have warned you if I'd known." she says. You turn your attention back to the shelf. There's now a secret compartment revealed there.

"Is that really a necessary thing to have?" Masuyo asks. "What kind of stuff do you even need to hide as far as art supplies?"

"Why don't we look inside then?" You suggest. She walks over to look with you, avoiding the newly forming puddles of paint on the floor.

The compartment isn't too big, but not too small either. There are a few tin cans with pencils and a notepad with paper, but noticeable to you is a paint bottle, with something smeared on the outside that doesn't match in color.

"Is that, blood?" Masuyo asks.

"I would say yes, but I'm more worried about how there wasn't actually any blood on the crime scene this time." you say.

"Well, maybe Oshima, when he got knocked over the head," Masuyo starts. "We should definitely ask him again about that head injury."

"Wait, " you say, reaching farther into the compartment. "There's something more in here."

You pull out a pin cushion, with a needle and a few pins inside, and a few bobbins of thread and Masuyo gasps.

"What, is this suspicious now?" You ask. Her face has gone a bit pale.

"Yeah, probably, you should take note of everything in this compartment, okay?" she says.

[Secret Compartment has been added to the truth bullets]

"You'll tell me the significance of sewing supplies in the trial at least, right Masuyo?" you ask. She nods curtly.

"We should get going to talk to Oshima more before time runs out though." she says. "I'm worried about his head wound, and the relation to that compartment."

"Right, let's get going, then-" a loud buzzing cuts you off. It's from the monitor and it seems to be getting louder before the audio snaps into focus, with monokuma on screen.

"Sorry about that, folks, just a bit of technical difficulty." He says, but the audio is still fuzzy. "Anyways, you can probably tell what time it is from my beautiful face! That's right; it's time for the class trial!" The screen buzzes out but a few more words come over the speakers. "See you all there!"

"I guess, we can still bring it up during the trial, right?" Masuyo suggests. "We can't afford to be late."

"Right." you agree, and the two of you leave the room to meet everyone in the hall, heading downstairs in a group. Masuyo rushes over to Oshima, to get some sort of information, talking hurriedly. You don't really talk to anyone, but you follow the group the same.

You'll never get used to the rickety elevator and how much slower it gets every time, but you can't afford to worry about something so trivial.

It's time for the class trial.

 

 


	17. Chapter Three: Treatment for a Snake's Venom: Class Trial

There is a faint smell of metal, or, burnt circuitry, or, or, or,

Well whatever it is, you don't like it. You don't like it any more than you like the walls, decorated traditionally garishly, and still this time different. It's not the gentle spookiness of Kaisui's, or the bright elegance of Emiline's and Otsuka's. It's overwhelmingly bright and cheery, in an unironic way. Pixel art coats the walls in what can only be described as visual sugar, pastels, pinks, greens, blues, and golden roses frame the edges. There's a story written there of heroes and monsters and saving the princess, but the hero fails, and the princess is eaten by the dragon. It's in honor of those who died, but you can't help being disturbed. The background music playing is 8-bit, and you can hear Miyano on the vocals. It's even more unsettling than the last two combined.

And the room feels empty. Ten spaces are filled, but seven are already taken by stand-ins with the faces of ghosts on them. Emiline's portrait hangs precariously over where Emmi stands. It threatens to fall, but you know it won't. Monokuma wouldn't dare to actually harm anyone innocent. Even he has boundaries.

Looking around, you notice the remaining three teams intact. You're glad you're on one of them. You couldn't even imagine living without Masuyo. You don't think you could.

Aside from any of that, there are a lot of empty spaces. You hope they'll help you, despite not being here physically.

A voice calls you back into reality, it’s monokuma, starting off the trial with his regular speech.

"Hello~" He shouts. "Nice to see you all again. You _all_ know the rules of the trial, right? Right! So let's get going, I'm not gonna help you all out at all this time, I swear on bear's honor!"

"It's not like we even need your fuckin' help anyways." Matsuda curses. "You're the one who got the shithead to murder anybody in the first place."

"Shouldn't we be trying to find the culprit before we start insulting them?" Emmi asked. "Sorry, I'm a bit new to this."

"No, you're right." Oshima says. "We've got to find the culprit, no matter what. I wish I could help more."

"Let's get to work then!" Soushin exclaims, ignoring Oshima's last sentence. "Starting with... a recount of what happened during the investigation, maybe? Sorry, I'm really out of the loop here."

"No, it's okay." Masuyo says. "I can only tell you what happened in my team, but since it's important, um. So, after we met around 8:30, we split into three groups at 8:45. Shibou-kun, Miya-chan, and I found Hensou's body in the Lab, but Keina called us down to the Library about something important before we could do anything. We left Miya-chan in the Lab, and came back up when we heard Emmi-san and Matsuda-san screaming, but we couldn't have been gone more than two minutes."

"Wait, doesn't that make Emmi and Matsuda-san really suspicious?" Keina asks, jumping on the first pause. "Couldn't one of them have killed Miyano-chan before Shibou-kun and Ajiyama-chan showed up?"

"Not if we take into account what happened in their team's investigation." You say. "Matsuda, if you would."

"O-Oh yeah, of c-course." She says. "W-well, after we split up, our g-group went to the Art Study and f-found Oshima dead there, and the a-announcement played. So, w-we, I mean, Emmi and I, went t-to the Lab to tell the oth-thers, and w-well, you know, Miyano-san was there o-on the floor."

"Dead." You say.

"Don't fucking interrupt!" Matsuda shouts. "I ain't finished yet!" She calms down a bit before continuing. "Anyways, so, during that whole damned sequence of events, Emmi and I never lost sight of each other! We've got solid alibis."

"If I may add onto that," Emmi says. "We've been hanging out together for a while too, it's safe to say Matsuda was fast asleep before midnight, and in her cabin until the morning announcement."

"Then the killer," Soushin says, "It's got to be whoever doesn't have an alibi! It's obvious then, right?"

"Oshima," Shibou starts. "You were, unaccounted for, for most of the timeframe between the two murders correct?"

"Wait a second, what?" Oshima asks. "But, I was attacked by the culprit, they banged me over the head and I passed out and-"

"But couldn't you very easily be lying?" Shibou interjects. "Your assault was not covered in the monokuma file, there's no proving it ever really happened. It could all be a ruse to explain your absense."

"However, if I'm right, there's no way Oshima could have gotten to the Lab from the Art Study without us seeing to poison Miyano." Emmi says. "Right?"

"It's not necessarily an instantly affective poison." Shibou explains. "There's proof for that too, am I correct, Ajiyama?"

"Oh!" You jump. "Yeah probably, I mean, hmm." You pause for a second, thinking.

"Well get on with it then?" Shibou prods. "We don't have all day."

"That's right!" You say. "It was the note, that Hensou received."

"A note?" Keina asks. "How could a note be proof of anything, let alone the time it takes for a poison to activate?"

"It wasn't necessarily the note itself, but what was written there." You explain. "The note was in Hensou's pocket, and it asked him to meet at 1:00 am in the Lab, thirty minutes before his murder."

"This note, could it be?" Oshima asks.

"It was the exact same as the one you showed us, Oshima." You say. "With only the time and location different. The handwriting matches perfectly."

"So, you forged a note to make it look like you were attacked!" Soushin exclaims. "How clever! Still, can we get back to the point of how it is he poisoned Miyano-chan? I'm still pretty confused."

"I'm telling you, I didn't-" Oshima pleads.

"Sh-shut up, m-murderer!" Matsuda shouts.

"We really should not be making such rash decisions." Odori says. "Oh well, go on though, if we are to get to a point soon."

"Hmm, isn't that if Hensou did do what the note said and went there at 1 am," Masuyo says. "And he was murderer at 1:30 am, then the poison can take up to thirty minutes to activate."

"Exactly." Shibou says, a smug expression on his face.

"Then you're wrong." Masuyo says. "When did everyone meet up outside the dining hall? It had to be before 8:15, right?"

"It was actually 8:00 when Miyano went searching for you." Keina says. "So isn't she unaccounted for?"

"No," you say. "If we were all gathered around the stairs, Oshima couldn't have poisoned Miyano, who was checking the cabins and the different forest paths, and then gotten up the stairs to position himself."

"So Miyano should have died earlier if Oshima poisoned her, I see." Soushin says. "Haha! Just kidding, I don't get it at all."

"No, you're exactly right." Hiniwa says. "But, this also means that all of us have alibis already."

"All of us but one." Shibou says. "Right, Ajiyama-chan?"

"Me?" Masuyo gasps. "But I wouldn't, I couldn't."

"Masuyo has an alibi for Hensou's murder." You say. "She was in the cabin the whole night. You'll have to try harder than that."

"Hey, wait." Emmi interrupts. "Don't you think, we're taking this too quickly? We're missing important details. Shouldn't we try, looking at each murder individually? Then seeing if the facts match up when we put them together."

"I agree." Hiniwa says. "Let's start with Hensou's then, since it happened first."

"R-right," Matsuda says, "But, um, what leads d-do we have?"

"Let's try going by alibis first." Masuyo suggests. "It sounds like a roundabout way, but I think it's important."

"Right, sooo," Soushin hums, "Wait, who had an alibi again."

"H-hiniwa, Emmi, and I all w-were accounted for." Matsuda says.

"Same for me and Odori-chaaan!" Soushin says.

"Odori-san." Odori corrects quickly.

"I also happened to see Shibou returning home in time." Emmi says.

"Were you following me?" Shibou snaps.

"Are you really going to complain about an alibi?" Emmi asks.

"Alright, point taken." He sighs.

"Then, with me and Tsuneo," Masuyo says. "That's everyone who's got one, right?"

"So, the only ones without any are Keina-chi, Oshima-chi, Hensou-chan, and Miyano-chan." Soushin says. "That is, if we're counting the victims."

"I think we should." Emmi says. "Just in case."

"So, Keina-san then." Hiniwa says. "Tell me, Keina, where were you at midnight to two o'clock."

"Wait, why am I suddenly a suspect?" Keina asks. "Weren't we still on Oshima-kun?"

"You are oddly defensive for someone innocent." Emmi says. "Though I think no one agrees that's good enough to base a verdict on."

"Surely not." Odori says.

"I'm pretty sure you'd be pretty defensive too if you were accused of murder." Keina says. "I was only catching up on my reading in the Library. I didn't leave at all."

"You didn't happen to see the culprit using the stairs, did you?" Soushin asks.

"Would I have kept quiet about it if I did?" Xe asks. "Really, there was no reason for you guys to jump on me like that."

"I think there was." You say. "Tell me, Masuyo, what was your account of what happened during the investigation this morning again? Just the part after you found the body."

"Well Keina-san came to get us because xe had found something important in the Library." Masuyo says.

"Whoa! I get it too now!" Soushin says.

"Am I m-missing something h-here?" Matsuda asks.

"Keina-san," you say. "Soushin, Odori-san, and I checked the Library top to bottom in the investigation. There was nothing important there, unless you kept it on you, and you'd like to show us now?"

"That's, um," Keina stumbles.

"Nothing? You have nothing at all?" Odori asks.

"If that's so, then why did you really go get Shibou and Masuyo from the Lab?" You ask. "It wasn't so Miyano wouldn't die right in front of them and he would be able to identify the poison better due to the symptoms, right?"

"Is that really enough to suspect me on?" Keina jeers, laughing over a face of loss. "If there's not any more evidence against me then how can you say for sure I did it?"

"There was something though." Masuyo says. "Keina-san, two days ago, that afternoon, you tore your stockings in the Art Study, and you swore there was no way you would leave until you fixed them."

"What does that have to do with this?" Xe asks.

"A lot actually." She says. "The only thing you could have fixed those tears with were sewing supplies. I helped you look, and there were none to be found in the Art Study, yet if I think back, you were wearing those very same mended socks to Miyano's party, so you must have found them."

"Still, what does that have to do with a murder case? Sewn up socks don't mean shit!"

"Except they do." You say. "Later on in the murder investigation, Masuyo and I went back to the Art Study, and we found those sewing supplies."

"Erk-"

"Strangely enough, they were in a secret compartment on a shelf of paint." Masuyo says. "And inside that compartment, we also found what was it again?"

"The weapon used to assault Oshima." You say. "It doesn't look like it at first, but it's a paint bottle, smeared with a color that definitely isn't the same as its contents."

"It was blood." Masuyo says. "Only a little bit, but exactly what you would expect from a nonfatal head wound."

"So it was Keina, who..." Oshima whispers.

"How is that really proof though?" Keina questions. "Couldn't someone else have found the compartment and used it to implicate me? It wouldn't be too hard. So? What else do you have?"

"Well there's still a lot of evidence to look at, and-" Keina cuts Masuyo off.

"I said what do you have? Present tense, right now? Theories and things don't make any sense without solid evidence to back things up. So, huh, prove it, would you? Prove it already."

"Gladly." You interrupt. "If you're so sure that the killer wasn't you, then you wouldn't mind copying what was written on the notes so we can see your handwriting."

"That's true." Emmi says. "It wouldn't be too hard to compare, and it would be obviously slow if you were disguising it."

"That's-"Keina fails to come up with a defense. "Fine, you've got me there."

"Are you admitting defeat so easily?" Odori demands. "I did not think you the type to give up right away."

"Well I've been caught, haven’t I?" Keina asks. "There's no point trying to go on now, it's just a waste of time."

"Ooh! Do we have a confession?" Monokuma grins, teeth and eye shining. "Because I've got a super special punishment prepared for-"

"Hold it." Hiniwa says. "We're not done here. Keina-san, tell me, if you're the murderer, how did you manage to get Miyano? Better yet, what poison did you use?"

"Even if I told you the poison, you wouldn't recognize it anyways, right?" Keina stumbles. "What's your point in asking?"

"I would recognize the name." You say. "Because, during the investigation, I found the very bottles which originally contained the poison."

"S-so, what is it then?" Matsuda asks you. "If y-you've known the whole t-time why didn't you t-tell us?"

"Give Keina a chance to answer." Emmi says. "If xe can't, then we have a problem."

"I don't know which one it was, alright?" Keina stumbles after a few moments of silence. "I just grabbed a random bottle off of the shelf, yeah? Why is it so important? I've confessed already, so we can just get to the point."

"Can we really be sure already though?" Masuyo asks. "Something still feels suspicious to me, but I just can't put my finger on it."

"Don't be ridiculous," Shibou says. "Keina is obviously the killer, what makes you think we shouldn't get this over with?"

"There is one thing, isn't there?" Soushin says. "We still don't have any idea of what happened leading up to Miyano's death. Since we left breakfast this morning, her whereabouts have been totally unknown!"

"That's not right!" You shout, in realization. "It might not be much to go on, but all three victims in this case, including Oshima-kun of course, received notes some time before this morning, although it is unclear at which time they were received."

"And what do you think is so important about these notes now?" Shibou asks. "Tell us, please."

"The notes Oshima-kun and Hensou-kun received," you continue. "The handwriting and phrasing in them is identical, and considering the times of assault on the two of them, they've got to be from the same person."

"And?" Shibou prompts. "What a waste of time."

"If you compare these two to the one Miyano received, though," you ignore the interruptions. "The paper is the same, but everything else is entirely distinct, the handwriting, the tone, it's even written in ink instead of pencil. This obviously means something important."

"Sorry, but you're wrong." Shibou says, cutting you off for the third time. "Do you remember the contents of that note? The sender wanted to meet Miyano for tea in broad daylight. There's nothing suspicious there at all. I assure you it has nothing to do with the murder."

"How can we be sure?" You ask. "Even without a viable reason to connect this note to the murder, it's still suspicious you found it, right?"

"I never thought you would take it this far when I gave you the notes." Shibou sighs. "Honestly, I don't know why you're still hung up on this. Miyano having tea with someone at three in the afternoon shouldn't be related to the case."

"Wait a s-second." Matsuda says. "You said th-three, right? I think I kn-know what the note has to do with th-this case."

"Really?" Odori asks. "We are to believe you have solved the mystery at just at the mention of a time?"

"Y-yes." She insists. "Sorry if y-you wanted to use it f-for something later, b-but Ajiyama-kun, could you t-tell me the name of the p-poison?"

"If you're sure you know what you're doing," you say. "It was the 'Diaspara Toxin', and each bottle had a single dose."

"I thought so!" Matsuda exclaims. "The Diaspara Toxin is a Posion which was originally developed for therapeutic use, but ended up being deadly poisonous through only two methods of introducing it into the system, injection, and ingestion. While a direct injection to the bloodstream only takes less than thirty minutes to take effect, if the liquid is drunk it takes a bit less than eighteen hours."

"And that would put the time at exactly three if we're counting back from her death at nine this morning." Emmi says. "Ingenious thinking, Matsuda-san."

"It was n-nothing," Matsuda blushes.

"You're seriously congratulating her?" Shibou jeers. "Isn't it obviously suspicious how she knew that much detail about the poison right off hand and was able to say it without that annoying stutter?"

"Don't be rude." Emmi says. "She has a solid alibi, and what she researches in her free time is none of your business."

"I don't even l-like tea." Matsuda says. "It triggers my g-gag reflex; you can t-test it if you don't believe me."

"No, I think we all believe you." Soushin says.

"Miyano was injected with the poison as well though." Shibou says. "So your idea that she was killed prior is useless regardless. It's said in the monokuma file, they both had injection wounds."

"I think you're getting confused by the wording." Masuyo says. "The exact wording was I think 'the only wound between the two of them is a needle prick on the neck'. It never says they each had a needle prick wound, only that there were no other external injuries, perfect for an ingested poison."

"A-and looking back with what w-we know now," Matsuda says. "Th-that particular phrasing seems indicative that there w-was only one n-needle prick wound, and we never s-saw one on Miyano-san. Though m-most of us d-didn't do a thorough i-investigation of her body."

"Ah, I have realized something." Odori interrupts. "Due to this recent discovery, Keina-san could not have committed the crime. Xe was with me at three yesterday."

"Sorry, Odori-san, but you're wrong." Masuyo says. "The issue here isn't at all that the same person had to have deadly tea time with Miya-chan and then assault Oshima and kill Hensou. That's not it all."

"Then what do you think it is?" Keina asks. "I've already confessed what more do we need?"

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Hiniwa asks. "There were two killers."

"That's not-" Oshima pauses. "I don't think that was obvious at all!"

"Oh? Was it not? My bad." Hiniwa laughs. It's rather inopportune.

"Regardless, there are no grounds for your assumption." Shibou says. "The two victims were poisoned by the same poison, in the same place, by the same culprit."

"But it's true, isn't it?" Emmi asks. "Not a single person in this room is missing alibis for both times of poisoning. So it had to be two in conjunction."

"Why don't we ask the source?" You suggest. "Keina, if you are the murderer, then who did you work with. And don't go saying you did it yourself or it wasn't actually you, it's obvious by now that that would be a lie."

"I won't tell you, I won't!" Keina shouts. "Because, if I don't, then you'll all have to vote for me, and they can take me with them... There's no way you can make me tell you!"

"Fine then." Emmi says. "We'll just compare the handwriting of the notes to everyone in the room and use other clues to figure it out."

"I don't think that's necessary." You say. "I know who the culprit is."

"Already?" Keina gasps.

"Well get to the point already!" Soushin demands.

"It's someone who's been manipulating our view of this case from the very start, even before the discovery of the bodies." You say. "It must be you, Shibou Arata!"

"You must be joking." He sneers. "Me? A killer? And with Keina-san as an accomplice? Why in hell would I work with xem?"

"That's a pretty weak defense." Masuyo says. "You are being charged with murder here."

"Well that's quite fine since I didn't do it." Shibou counters. "When have I ever not been helpful in the investigation? I mean, really?"

"When you botched half of the evidence." You say. "Did you think no one would notice you taking those notes for yourself? Or that no one would point out that someone doing the body investigation didn't take note of a missing needle prick on Miyano's throat?"

"Such a small wound would have healed by the time-" Shibou starts.

"Cease your making of such petty excuses." Odori says. "It is quite obvious to everyone by now who the true mastermind of these murders is, and less by the facts than by your own weak defense against it."

"Come on now." Masuyo says. "It's time to make sense of what happened in this case."

"Right." You agree.

~

<Closing Argument>

Yesterday, some time after the motive announcement, an agreement was made between two culprits, that they would each act as each other's accomplices and pull off a crime that would be impossible to solve.

The first Culprit set to work by writing a note to Miyano, asking for an innocent meeting to have tea in the dining hall, but really their intent was more malevolent. By planting a deadly poison in her drink, this culprit was able to create a situation in which they had an alibi for her death, if a false one.

Meanwhile, the other culprit set their half of the deal. They prepared two notes, one to Oshima and one to Hensou, in order to incriminate the former and leave him without an alibi.

Late that night, the second culprit prepared two cloths, by soaking them in chloroform and stashing them right where they would need them when the time came. They hid by the door to the Art Study and waited for Oshima to show up, but it didn't take long.

Having smothered him with the cloth, the culprit took a nearby paint bottle and hit Oshima over the head for good measure. They quickly stashed the bottle in a secret compartment they had found in one of the shelves some time prior, and fled to the Laboratory to continue their crime.

Here they lay in wait again, until Hensou showed up, and they struck again, this time skipping the bludgeoning, and instead taking a pre-prepared syringe full of the poison and injecting it straight into a vein on Hensou's neck. Then, they returned home and slept like the rest of us, but not unnoticed. Their roommate, easily stirred awake by noise, noticed them coming in so late and took note.

That morning, the two culprits set their plan to complicate the case. Because of Masuyo sleeping in, three people were missing, and it was quickly decided to set up a search party to find the other two. With this set in place, both culprits had alibis for Miyano's death.

Then, after Hensou and Oshima's bodies were discovered, the second culprit called their partner and Masuyo away from the scene of the crime, so no one was there when Miyano died, trying to confuse the rest of us, but in the end, that suspicious behavior was their downfall.

The culprits, I've figured it out!

Keina Sora and Shibou Arata!

~

"How disappointing." Shibou sighs. "Oh well, it can't be helped."

"So, you're, you're just going to give up?" Keina asks. "I can't believe you!"

"Didn't you do the same just a while ago?" Shibou snaps. "Oh well, I never really expected to succeed anyways, it was just a bit of fun."

"How can you treat human lives like a joke like that?" Masuyo asks. "You've, you've killed three people."

"Three? Did you forget how to count?" Shibou teases.

"No, Keina-san, xe never would have if you didn't trick xem." Masuyo says.

"Oh, you think I forced xem to do it?" Shibou laughs. "Oh no, no, it wasn't anything to do with me that made up xyr mind. Go ahead then, tell them."

Keina stands silent, and obviously bothered.

"Ah, how useless, I should have chosen a better partner." Shibou says. "But then they couldn't have been so easily manipulated. A supposedly perfect plan, we'd surely escape and force monokuma to let us take two more people with us, that's what you saw, right? How stupid."

"I…" Keina seems lost for words. "I don't want to let you speak for me like this."

"Oh, is that-"

"Shut up!" Keina screams, tears barely forming around xyr eyes. "Shut up, shut up, shut up! You let us fail, it was all your fault, you were better than this, if I had taken the fall like I said I would if we failed then, then, the vote would have been wrong, and Odori-san could have come with us! You're useless! Pointless! Why did I ever think I could trust you?! That's right; you threatened to kill _me_ if I didn't! But here I am, about to die anyways! You evil little manipulative-"

"That is quite enough." Odori has walked around the courtroom and placed her hand on Keina's shoulder. "I appreciate the thought, but there is no point in shouting when you've lost a match."

"I'm so sorry," Keina sobs. "But I'm so mad, I never wanted this."

"But you did." Shibou says. "I never forced you to do anything, if only you had died and saved the rest of them, but you wouldn't stand for that, would you?"

"Just shut up already," Keina's voice falls creakily to silence, along with the courtroom. "Let me apologize before I have to go."

"Haven't you forgotten something?" Monokuma asks from his throne. "We still have to vote, no matter how obvious it's gotten, everyone please, use the control panels to cast your votes!"

You wish you could ignore the confetti falling from the ceiling.

"Oshima," Keina cries over monokuma's obligatory announcement of success. "I'm sorry, and Ajiyama-chan, I'm sorry I let this happen, to both of them." Masuyo sheds a tear next to you.

"Alrighty then, maybe I won't be spoken over now!" Monokuma says. "You all did it again, congratulations! So we can get on to the executions right? Because I've prepared a super duper special double punishment for Super High School Level Right's Activist Keina Sora and Super High School Level Therapist Shibou Arata!"

"Shibou, don't you want to say something too? No last words?" Keina asks.

"Not really." He says. "I never belonged here with the rest of you anyways."

They both walk away bedgrudging, yet willingly, with monokuma. The screen switches on.

~

{Peaceful Protest / Shock Therapy}

Western music plays gently in the background. An exaggerated tumble weed blows by the faces of buildings, each shutting its blinds and locking its doors as it passes.

The screen pans to view Keina, pigeon toed and shaking in the middle of the dirt path, a single sign in xyr hands, shaking in time with xem.

Somewhere off, the music increases in volume. The screen displays the horizon opposite Keina, warped and dark. The ground is trembling, something is coming.

The first thing seen is the very silhouette of their signs, backlit against a bright sun, and mirroring the lone one held by Keina, in location, and message, broadcasting hate in the most arbitrary way.

They seem to be moving agonizingly slowly, at first, a slow march, reverent, but not really, just annoying, more irrelevant than anything else ever.

The music speeds up.

Their heads can be seen over the horizon now, or they could, but it's still a far away and muddy silhouette. They're moving faster.

The music speeds up.

They're approaching at a quicker pace now, each step timed to the music. The crowd is bigger than it originally appeared, most of them walk above the horizon now.

The music speeds up.

They're running now, like a stampede on a plain somewhere far away, and it's loud. The beat can be heard over any sound of the background music.

The music speeds up.

The screen switches back to Keina.

Xe drops xyr sign.

Xe runs.

Xe trips.

They march.

Xe's gone.

The crowd fades black against the other horizon.

It's nearly impossible to look at the trampled remains without getting sentimental and upset.

The screen switches to an entirely different place.

It's a dark room, not a street, and the music is entirely gone, pure silence.

A light switches on, or maybe it's not a light. There's a faint buzzing noise, and the small illumination is greenish and jumpy. Another one joins it, on the other side, the light is just enough to see now.

Shibou sits, tied to a chair, or, not tied, but rather with a straight jacket on, so he can't move his arms. He's uncharacteristically struggling.

Another two lights switch on, the buzzing is louder now, and the camera moves closer to Shibou as if it were attached to the same thing as the lights. He looks terrified, unlike he's ever been seen.

The camera switches to a side view. The faint greenish light is not just a bad fluorescent bulb. Four barely recognizable things are visible now. It's not quite clear what they are, but it's obvious they've got some sort of electricity aspect. Little zapping noises join the buzzing soundtrack. It's hard to tell what's going to happen, even what those things are, but it's obvious from the look of pure terror on his face that Shibou knows exactly what's going on.

They draw closer by the second, creating their own background music with snaps and hisses and little buzzing noises switching off and on and flickering.

They're headed directly at his face, he's sweating, nervous, he's knows he's about to face the consequences and die.

Suddenly, the straight jacket is gone, he's bolted away from the chair and away from the machine, both knocked over on their sides by his erratic movements. He’s run towards a window, the glass is blacked out, but he opens it, letting all the light in, and he jumps.

The camera pans down the side of the building and shows a second bloodied body lying on the ground, trees surrounding.

He's gone, again.

Both of them,

Dead.

END Chapter 3

You received item, snake bite piercings.  
You received item, polar bear tie pin.

8 Students remain.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave your tears in the comments. I appreciate them.


	18. Chapter Four: Building the Road to Despair: Daily Life- Day 1- Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is late but after getting metaphorically punched in the stomach last night by the food I ate it was hard to do anything but sleep. Your nice comments kept me going to get it done today though! Thank you! Also this chapter is super duper long even after cutting it in half! Enjoy!

_I didn't want to sleep_ , I told myself. I wanted to never sleep again. I couldn't sleep. I lay awake, holding a monumental staring contest with the ceiling.

_I'll get bags under my eyes, like Tsuneo_. I told myself. I rolled over onto my side, letting out only a small snicker.

I was too tired to sleep.

I checked the clock; 12:03 am, technically morning by now. I hadn't slept a wink since the trial. Everything was silent.

Everything.

The Teal Cabin, Silent, The Purple Cabin, Silent, The Gold Cabin, all silent. And the White Cabin will never turn its lights on again.

The Green Cabin, silent, despite the two currently sleeping in it.

The one sleeping in it.

_He never snores_. I told myself. He was completely silent as he slept and for a moment I wondered if he had been poisoned too. Wouldn't that be a cruel trick.

I checked his pulse for the fifth time that night. I was glad he had always been a light sleeper, but this was getting obsessive.

I needed air, but there was none to breathe. Fewer people to have to share it with should have left more, but instead it left me with my lungs feeling empty.

I was suffocated by the silence.

Near silence.

I heard something, a door? Maybe. I left as quietly as I could, but no one was awake. I spied Matsuda from the small porch outside my door. She was bundled up in a large thick blanket, covering her hair, and reaching down to drag on the ground. Only her eyes were visible, but they were hers, there was no mistaking it. I was reminded it was cold. I did not care. It the skin on my ears, my nose, the tips of my fingers. My breath came out as clouds in the air. A snowflake fell on my cheek. It melted instantly, like everything else I touched.

There was frost dusting the ground. I walked barefoot, my toes turned red by the cold. I followed Matsuda. She shouldn't have been up either, what was she planning?

She shifted and wrapped the blanket tighter around herself. My fingers were numb. I couldn't feel my face.

There really was no excuse for it to have been so cold.

I followed her to the first forest path, past the haunted warehouse, past the haunted greenhouse. The cemetery gate creaked as she opened it, and left it ajar that way. She spent an alarming amount of time there. The morning dew on the petals of the fresh flowers by the headstones had frozen. Four more graves lay with the rest. Four more plots of dirt upturned. Four more deaths.

Matsuda was whispering something, a conversation maybe, she laughed a couple times, as if she were hanging out with family. It was soft, but it shook the frigid air. Recounting stories to the fallen. She did not this time stick near those same two graves, I noticed. Instead, she moved around, visiting each one, laughing all the same. She talked with everyone who had left us. Admittedly, she stayed longer with some than with others, she told one sided stories, and yelled at none of them, stuttered at none of them. Smiled at all of them. Her breath fogged the sky. I only heard her voice rise above a whisper once, at the end, and it was clear as day.

"I miss you, all of you."

She turned around to leave and I finally froze in the cold air.

"If you think your plans are foiled," she whispered, muffled further by the cloth covering her mouth. "I knew you were there the whole time. I'll forgive you, but talk to them with me next time."

"But, why?" I asked.

"I remember them." She said. "I remember everything about them so I try to still talk to them, they remember me too now, they didn't before."

"What do you mean?"

"Ah, don't ask me." she paused, turning back. "Ask them, you may not get a clear answer, but they miss you. It'll be worth it."

"I don't quite get it."

"You wouldn't, not yet. And I don't think you will." She sighed. "Just pay them your respects, all of them. I'll wait, so you don't have to go back alone."

She stood near the gate, her scarf wrapped up to her ears, and I stopped by each one of them, all of them, one by one, in order.

But I went to Matsuda's family first. I never knew them, I didn't really even know her, but, I felt obligated to do it.

Then, Kaisui, Kawada, Otsuka, Emiline, Shiroju, Hensou.

"変壮哲哉  
===== - =====

My blood runs cold, and my memory has already been sold out. We're angels now."

Had I known Hensou? Had I been his friend? Could I truly claim that? It hurt anyways.

No one could ever know him the way he knew Otsuka, not even her.

Miyano.

"宮野麻美子  
===== - =====

I'll miss you, but we can always meet again in the fall. I promise."

I'd never see her again, would I? Not for a very long time at least. All the sakura and pink roses in the world laid on her grave still could not fix it. She was gone for me, no matter how I denied it.

"I'll miss you too." I whispered. I swore she was there with me.

Keina.

"敬無空  
===== - =====

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter, don't mind."

Keina always was, and always would be a good person. That's all there really is to say on the matter.

And Shibou, the one who killed them all.

"死妨新  
===== - =====

Fuck you, yes, you in particular, the one in the back. Specifically you. Fuck you."

And there it was. I thought I trusted him, and I was glad I didn't, because all he ever did was manipulate people. He killed all three of them and I didn't think that could be forgiven.

It took all I had not to spit on his grave.

It was really cold.

I stood up, the air bit at my shins. I wish I had decided to wear long socks before leaving.

"So you're done then?" Matsuda asked. "Come on then, let's go back."

"I still don't understand anything." I said.

"That's okay." She said. She wasn't wearing her glasses, I noted. The snow stuck white to her hair where it dipped in front of her eyes. Her eyelashes sparkled in the moonlight, long, but she wore no makeup. The blanket still covered her feet, but I could hear each step on the compacted dirt. It echoed in the silence. "You don't remember anything, do you?"

"I remember some things." I said.

"But nothing important. Not your talent, not all those years, not the reason you're even here."

"I guess not."

"I hope you remember soon, I really do." She sighed. "I have to go soon, remember me at least."

"Of course I'd remember you, Matsuda-san, but where are you going?"

"Please, it's Hana." She never answered my question, but she left me at my cabin and walked away. She continued walking, past all the cabins, and I lost sight of her in the snow.

I laid down in bed again.

I did not sleep. I couldn't.

I checked the clock. Only 2 am, only slightly. Five hours to lie awake in bed.

I didn't sleep all night. I wrote. I tried to draw. I failed. I wished Kaisui was there to help. Thoughts echoed in my head, memories of those gone.

I passed out at my desk.

\--

When I woke up, it was the morning announcement. I was back in my bed. Light shone barely though the window, curtains hanging loosely. My eyes were sore, and in the reflection of the mirror I saw they had grown bags. I hoped no one would notice, but I knew they would. I looked like shit. I tried to brush my hair, but it was wiry, and would not cooperate, even more so than usual. My blond was fading, and looked splotchy yellow and white, and oily. Black peeked at the roots. The green in my eyes had lost its brilliance, now a dull gray to match my complexion.

I needed sleep.

I tripped over my own feet as I left, a little dizzy, and unable to coordinate, but I tried my best to look like I was okay. I couldn't stand to show weakness.

Breakfast never tasted worse.

The only two good chefs remaining were incapacitated. I could barely think, Matsuda couldn't be found, and as nice a help Oshima was in the kitchen, he couldn't work his own menu for his life. When Matsuda did show up, thirty minutes late, she refused to cook to replace the rice Oshima had made, saying that her Western style wouldn't mix well. Oshima's food really wasn't bad, but a week or two of gourmet grilled fish and pancakes did nothing to normalize my taste buds.

Emmi was there, they still didn't feel like part of the situation. They couldn't die. They didn't hold that same mortal fear.

"Hey, shouldn't we explore or something?" They asked. "New areas show up after every trial, there's got to be something cool and new!"

"I am sure there is," Odori said. "However..."

"No, we should go." Hiniwa said. "Maybe there's an exit, or something else important."

"Every time we explore a new area, someone winds up dead there." I said. "Our numbers are dwindling, we can't afford another loss."

"Nothing sounds fun anymore." Soushin said. "I don't want to go either, it sounds awful, and we all know both of those places will be there."

We knew what she was talking about. The street, with shuttered windowed shops, and the tall building. None of us though, knew why we had to be reminded of them this way.

"It's probably a bad idea." Oshima said. "Sorry, Emmi."

"You all know he's just going to force us to go." They said. "Monokuma won't let you decide your fate so freely."

"We should at l-least be allowed to pr-prolong it." Matsuda said. "He can't control us."

"He can." Emmi said bluntly. "And he will. I'm going on ahead, lest he show up and make your foul moods even worse."

"Too late!" Monokuma appeared on stage. Most of us turned to face him. "Hey, Imouto-chan, nice to know you're thinking of me!"

"Get your lolicon ass away from me and never use that word again." Emmi threatened within a single breath. Monokuma leaned back a little, despite keeping a nonchalant demeanor.

"Whatever." Monokuma sighed. "So, you guys don't wanna check out the cool new areas I prepared for you? Just for the sake of defying me? How rude! I worked so hard, and you're not going to even give them a glance? I made an entire amusement park on my own, with games and wonderful prizes! Even a challenge or two for you intellectuals! Something for all of you! Even the spy, who's been so mopey, ever since the first death."

"Spy?" Tsuneo asked. "What are you getting at, monokuma?"

"Oh?! You didn't know?" He laughed. "That's soooo disappointing! So you didn't notice at all that there's been a spy here watching your every move, and feeding me all that information, trying to get you all killed!"

"You can't expect us to believe such fiction." Hiniwa argued.

"It's not fiction!" Monokuma claimed. "It's the bonafide truth! Maybe they'll out themself soon! They wouldn't want to lose everyone's trust though!"

"This is complete bullshit." Matsuda said. "This isn't some story from a book or some shit! This is real fucking life! Stop messing with us."

"If only I _were_ lying!" Monokuma laughed. "Oh, it's true, and if only you could explore my new areas, you'd find all the prizes, and be able to tell who it was." He sighed. "And so much more too, you all just hate me so much, don't you."

"What information do you speak of?" Odori asked.

"The very student files which Otsuka tried to hide from you! Oh! I worked so very hard to make them fun to find and read!" He laughed again, chills went down my spine. The toasty kitchen heat had just warmed me up, too.

"Why would we try to find those?" Oshima demanded. "It would only lead us to more strife and betrayal, just like when Otsuka-san found them!"

"Oh that's rich, coming from someone who _thinks_ he even remembers anything!" Monokuma said. "You know everything about yourself? But how are you supposed to tell if it's all a lie or not? And besides, not everyone has the same memory you do! They spy could even not know they're the spy! Anyways, the moral of the story is don't trust anyone!"

I thought for a second. The very idead of learning all that I had forgotten, it was exhilarating, but, I wasn't sure if it was worth it.

"Okaaay... sooooo," monokuma drew on. "There are three ways to retrieve your student files, alright? You can either complete one of two challenges, to be found in the new areas, or you can kill someone! Only one prize is available per method! You can meet me on the fourth floor, or in forest path three for further explanation!"

He left. The room felt hollow. My chest felt hollow.

"Maybe, we should go look?" I suggested. The words leaving my mouth were foreign, not of my own design.

"What are you talking about?" Oshima asked. "You yourself said only bad things would happen if we did."

"Are you absolutely sure his motive didn't get to you?" Soushin added. "Come on, Ajiyama-chan, we can't have you going out on us like this! You were the only sensible one here."

"Maybe Ajiyama-san is right," Hiniwa said.

"N-not you too!" Matsuda croaked.

"No, they're right." Tsuneo said. "If we find the files together, and share them, then monokuma's motive is ruined. He never said we couldn't show them to people after we won them."

"We travel together," Odori said. "And no one gets hurt. I like this idea."

"Only if you all are sure it will work." Emmi said. "But it could be enough. If you all regain your memories, then I'm sure it won't even matter who the spy is anymore."

"Right! Hell yeah!" Matsuda laughed. "If it'll do good, then let's go already! No time to waste."

"Yeah!" Soushin said. "There's no way this could possibly go wrong!"

"Come on, you're gonna jinx it." Oshima groaned.

"Still," I said. "No one is going to die."

At that point, I had no idea how wrong I was.

\--

We climbed the stairs together, metal grates, then creaky wooden stairs, and then we had reached the third floor. An ominous aura came from the Lab. I ignored it and looked at the newly unshuttered stairs.

These were wooden as well, but they looked newer, and they didn't creak so much as the last set. It was a fancier wood, I thought, and a regal looking carpet was draped over all the sharp edges.

Sixteen feet, climbing the stairs. It was sad to think over half of us had died already by the end of the third trial, but I tried to think instead that nearly half remained. Optimism was the only option left.

The stairs felt taller than they were, maybe they were shallow, so there were more of them to climb. Emmi seemed to glide ahead of us easily, and Odori took the stairs two at a time.

Once we reached the fourth floor, there was an instant disappointment. All of the doors were locked, and the names didn't even make sense.

On the right was the "Archive". The door was straight out of an old sci-fi or spy movie, but its purpose held more true than those on sets. Surveillance was tight. Three cameras surrounded this door alone, just like those through the rest of the resort, but more concentrated.

There was a keypad at the intersection for password entry, but also a machine gun pointed directly at the head of whoever might stand there.

"Hey, Emmi, couldn't you just do it?" Soushin asked. "You'd be better at guessing, probably, and you wouldn't die if you got shot!"

"I may not have a squishy human brain, but my head still contains critical circuitry!" They snapped. "I can still die, you know."

"Fine then, I guess we'll never enter that place." Soushin sighed.

The other two doors were no less disappointing. Directly across from the Archive was a completely blue painted wall and door, with simply the name "blue room" written above it. It made no sense, what use would there be for a room that was just blue?

The wall perpendicular to the other two, and across from the stairs down to the third floor, was made of glass. There was a door, but it had no handle to turn, so no way to open it. It was easy to see what was inside the room, absolutely nothing.

There were two doors on each side of the glass wall, and stairs straight through. Everything was painted white or silver. It probably wasn't important that we couldn't enter though. The stairs were still shuttered.

I tried the knob on the blue door on the blue wall, but before my hand could touch it, monokuma showed up.

"Whoa whoa whoa!" He shouted. "Are you sure you want to try the challenge already? You don't even know the rules yet!"

"So, this 'blue room' is your challenge?" Odori asked.

"Yup, one of the two! This is one for all those braniacs out there!" He laughed, and it felt louder bouncing off of the glass. "Hmmm, maybe I shouldn't explain it though! It would be so much more fun watching you all try to figure it out on your own."

"Tell us." Emiline demanded.

"Fine, fine, it's basically a puzzle game, or a room escape game based on puzzles." He sighed. "If you make it through the blue room, you get a surprise, but you've got to have exactly two people try the game together. It's dangerous to go alone, but I don't want you guys teaming up on me."

"Are you seriously afraid of a group of teenagers?" Hiniwa asked.

"Are you kidding me?" Monokuma said. "Teenagers are the most fearsome creatures alive! Just no more than two people, alright? I'll tell you the rest of the rules once you go inside!" He left with that.

"Should we do it, is it worth it?" Matsuda asked.

"He probably hid some sort of trap." Emmi said. "He might make the two people fight to the death or play some other life threatening game."

"I don't think he would describe that as a puzzle game thought." Oshima said. "Even I know the difference between those two things."

"I think we should wait." I said. "Maybe the other challenge is easier, less dangerous. At least maybe he'll tell us more details."

"Yeah, that's an okay decision." Emmi said. "But we'll probably end up back here anyways."

"It'll be a while until then at least." Tsuneo said. "Let's all stay alive as long as we can, alright?"

"Yush!" Soushin shouted. "The power of friendship and all that crap! We'll make it through this together!"

"Saying it that way makes you sound really sarcastic." I laughed. She laughed back.

Nobody said anything after that, but we all kept laughing, and had fun together. I didn't even notice the creaky stairs as the way down. Small lake seemed a vibrant blue, and for the first time, I turned right from the main building, and the idea of a new path felt exciting now, not threatening. Still, the initial feeling lingered in the background.

I looked over to the final gate as we entered forest path three. It was daunting, impressive, but it looked lonely now.

As we walked into the path, Soushin hummed the opening to toccata and fugue in D minor.

"Could you not do that?" I asked. "It's really creepy."

"Sorry, just gotta a tune in my head, gotta hum it!" She explained. "Besides, Toccata and Fugue in D minor was originally a piece written for the church to glorify the Christian god." She launched into a defendant stance. "It is modernly used mostly in unsettling situations, but this is only because of the minor key and the broad yet airy tone of the pipe organ."

"You're being a bit defensive." Emmi said.

"Well of course! I love that song! It's one of my favorites!"

"Do you enjoy classical music?" Odori asked.

"I don't quite understand how someone could not love all genres of music!" Soushin exclaimed. "Although, I did write a marching band arrangement for that one, I just loooooove fugues!"

"I just don't get music." Oshima said.

"Your life must be sooooo boring then." Soushin said. "I don't know how you could live without music, it's everything to me."

"How does a blind girl fit into a marching band anyways?" Emmi asked. "I'm just curious."

"Wow, this question again." Soushin complained. "Beethoven was deaf, and he wrote some of today's best symphonies! I can hear, so music should be even easier for me!"

"But like, still," Tsuneo said. "What do you do?"

"Most of the time I act as drum major." She said. "You know, the conductor, but sometimes they need me to play the field, so I do that instead. As long as all the formations have two people flanking me on each side the entire time, I can do just fine."

"What instruments do you play then?" Emmi asked. "Some have got to be easier to march with than others."

"I play all of them instruments." Soushin said. "All of them. From flute and clarinet, to trumpet and sax, to sousaphone and trombone. Of course I can only play one at a time though, and I do prefer the woodwinds."

"That's really impressive." Oshima said.

"Well duh, they wouldn't give out the Super High School Level Marching Band Member Title to just anyone!" Soushin said. "They also like me because I'm really good at tuning."

"That makes sense." I said. "Tuning is important, right?"

"Super Duper important!" She said. "Nothing else matters at all if even one person is out of tune! It sounds like complete shit! Even discords sound worse than they're supposed to!"

"I really don't get it." Tsuneo sighed. "Music escapes me."

"Then I suppose your talent could not be of the musical sort." Odori said. "That is one subject now out of the way."

"Nah, I knew that already." Soushin said. "He doesn't act like any kind of professional musician I ever knew, and have you heard his voice?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tsuneo snapped.

"Tone-deaf, tone-deaf!" Soushin sang. Tsuneo pouted. The rest of us laughed.

"You two should probably stop flirting." Emmi said. "I think we're almost to the first location on the path."

"Th-that's-" Tsuneo's face blushed red up to his ears.

"You shouldn't joke about things like that, Emmi" Soushin said, only a bit lighter of a shade.

"Hmm? But I thought that was what was going on." They continued. "Every other pair here has acted the same, however now such activity has been hindered with by the mortality of the participants."

"Well yeah, I mean Hensou and Tetsuya, they were kinda..." Oshima said making an awkward gesture with his hands. "But I can't think of anyone else who would-"

"You're forgetful, aren't you?" Emmi asked. "They weren't the only ones."

"Oh right!" Soushin said. "There was Miyano-chan and Ajiyama-chan, and Oshima-kun and Kawada-san, and Odori-san and K-"

"Stop this nonsense immediately." Odori said. "Your insolence is completely unnecessary, and if you plan to relate myself to anyone then you are incorrect. There is no way you could be. Regardless, your behavior has become highly inappropriate."

"I'll have to agree with Odori-san." Hiniwa said. "It was bad enough for Emmi to bring it up, but for you to blatantly point it out. That was extremely rude, Soushin-san."

"Fine, sorry." She said. "I'll try to be more considerate in the future and all that stuff."

"A halfhearted apology, but an acceptable one." Odori said. "We've reached our destination by now, perhaps we should investigate it."

Most everyone looked up to the large arching sign over a side path, or maybe an entrance, and paused to read it.

"Nezumi Park: Forest Adventure" I said aloud.

"So, what is it?" Soushin asked. "Where are we?"

"Is it some sort of amusement park?" Tsuneo answered, with another question.

"It appears to be so." Odori said. "Not the original, however, some sort of spinoff location."

"So part of a franchise then?" Oshima suggested.

"Probably," Hiniwa agreed. "I think I've heard of Nezumi before, the company likes to open parks in strange locations."

"Well, th-this situation is p-pretty strange." Matsuda said. "It c-can't be too big though,  there's n-not much room here I th-think."

"Still," I said. "We should look inside. It may have that other challenge, or something else important."

"Right then!" Soushin shouted. "Forward march!"

"That's not really necessary." Hiniwa said. Soushin grumbled something under her breath in response.

We all walked rather slowly in that large group, but the bigger number of people wasn't the only reason. The whole place seemed off by a bit, maybe even spooky. All the rides were abandoned and run down. A huge Ferris wheel, shaking in the wind, the breeze whistling across the common, ticket booths half deteriorated, with paint chipping, peeling off. Cotton candy colors faded to reveal weather-worn wood.

Soushin marched forward with ignorant resilience.

"So, where do you think this 'challenge' is?" She asked. "Is it a super rad roller coaster or something? I love thrill rides."

"I believe if there was anything such as that it would have shown above the trees before the path was even unlocked." Odori said. "We would have noticed it by now."

"Yeah, I guess that's true." Soushin said. "Major disappointment though."

"We'll just have to find a roller coaster as soon as we get out of here." I said.

"Wh-What makes you think th-that will even happen a-anymore?" Matsuda asked.

"Well, nothing really." I said. "I just think it's better to keep a baseless hope than to lose to despair."

"That may end up being a dangerous line of thought." Hiniwa said. "You put a lot of trust in everyone."

"Then let me be murdered." I said despite myself. "I'd rather die trusting in everyone than survive by doubting all of them."

"A truly admirable way to view things, Ajiyama-chan!" Soushin said. "But, let's get going! Now I'm all pumped up! Tsuneo-chi, where are we goin'?"

"What?" Tsuneo asked. "How should I know?"

"You're nearly there!" Monokuma said, out of nowhere. Matsuda screeched. "Oh come on, I'm not that scary, am I? Nothing compared to you all at least!"

"You're way scarier than us!" Soushin said.

"You all just hate me, don't you?" Monokuma sulked. "Never mind then, I won't help you out."

"N-no, w-wait." Matsuda stammered. "Wh-what were you going to s-say?"

"I was gonna tell you, the haunted house is just ahead!" He explained. "I can't be there to tell you about it once you're inside because it's full of mice, and I'm just terrified of mice!"

"What a wimp." Soushin said. "Afraid of a few little mice? Squeak squeak!"

"Stop that!" Monokuma whimpered. "You know, this could be considered violence against the headmaster!" He threatened. "I'm sure you'll be afraid of the haunted house too! It's all weary souls are sent to unrest! But if you make it through to the top floor, then you get a prize. This one's a solo quest, only one person at a time!"

"Then, I'll go!" Soushin said. "You can't scare me!"

"Wait, that may be a really bad idea." Tsuneo said. "What if you trip or something?"

"You worry too much, I'll be fine!" She said. "I'll win the prize and share it with all of you!"

"You shouldn't be so hasty." Hiniwa said. "You have no idea what could happen in there, and it's not just you, either. Any of us could be caught off guard."

"But I'm sooo bored!" Soushin complained. "Do you realize how funny it would be? _Him_ trying to scare _me_?"

"It is not worth the risk." Odori said.

"I've got to agree, you can't go throwing your life on the line like that." Oshima said.

"I get it, I get it." Soushin grumbled. "Yeah, I won't go in there, but no one else can either, right?"

"Right." Everyone agreed, except,

"Are you sure?" Matsuda asked. "I thought we all wanted to get the prize together, so we could restore out memories, and ruin the motive." Wait, something wasn't right.

"But Matsuda," I said. "You told me yourself, don't you already remember everything? I mean, you said-"

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about!" Matsuda yelled. "I said nothing of the sort!"

"But, last night-"

"Oo, was I wrong about Ajiyama-chan's love interest being killed off?" Soushin teased.

"Not like that," I protested. "At the graveyard, just after midnight,"

"I was fucking asleep at midnight!" Matsuda said. "What the hell are you getting at?"

"But, I thought," The place was spinning, I was rather dizzy, and I hadn't even thought of riding the carousel. I felt the ground falling out around me. I blinked, and then

I woke up in the infirmary.

 

END Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know that song that they play for vampires in cartoons? That's Toccata and Fugue in D minor. It's also my jam.


	19. Chapter Four: Building the Road to Despair: Daily Life- Day 1- Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> s/o to my readers.  
> You guys rock

The place was spinning, I was rather dizzy, and I hadn't even thought of riding the carousel. I felt the ground falling around me, I blinked, and then

I woke up in the infirmary. I hoped to see Kawada by my side, for it all to have been a dream, nine people dying. I blinked again, in a haze, and looked around. There was no one to be seen, the place was empty, but that didn't mean it happened, right, I had to check, I had to.

I failed to actually lift myself out of bed the first few times. I resolved to staring at the ceiling, lying in bed, awake. I couldn't think. The door opened. I sat up just enough to see who had walked in.

It was Matsuda, except,

She was the same as last night. Wrapped up in bed sheets from head to toe, and missing her glasses. The blankets covered her mouth, muffled her tone, but she spoke directly to me.

"You cannot mention me." She said. "Not ever, if you do, I cannot help you anymore." She paused. "That said, I can give you this. When you enter the blue room, make sure it is you and Matsuda, and only Matsuda. Do whatever you can to convince her." I couldn't say anything, just listen really. She left soon, silent as she came. The door didn't have time to actually shut before someone else rushed in.

It was Tsuneo, and, everyone else.

Not everyone though.

And, Emmi was there,

Emmi,

It wasn't a dream.

"I'm so glad you're alright!" Tsuneo said, but I wasn't. Matsuda stood off to the side, same as ever, red half rimmed glasses, trench coat, and skinny jeans.

"You've got to stop passing out on us." Oshima said. "It's a bad habit."

"It's not like I meant to." I said. My voice was dry.

"We should probably get you moving." Hiniwa said. "It's not any good to sit around at a time like this."

"You're right." I said. "Yeah, you're right." I tried to get up again, I almost fell, but Tsuneo helped support me.

"Are you sure you should be moving?" He asked. "I know we don't want you sleeping and falling into a coma or something, but,"

"No, I've got this," I said. "There's no time to be wasted lying around. I never finished the investigation of the new areas. I know we found all of the challenges monokuma mentioned and all, but..."

"Yeah I get it." Oshima said. "But are you sure you should go alone?"

"I'll go with her." Tsuneo said. "That's alright, right?"

"No, it's fine." I said. "I might need it, anyways."

"Alright then, tell us what you find!" Soushin said. "Don't leave us out on any cool secrets!"

We left after that. I was limping a little bit, and falling back whenever Tsuneo tried to keep a brisk pace. I got back into a steady rhythm eventually though, and I was able to keep up fairly well.

"What were they talking about, telling them about anything interesting?" I asked.

"We all went to the infirmary for you when you fainted." He responded. "None of us explored beyond the amusement park."

"You really didn't have to do that." I said.

"But we wanted to, you're our friend, right?" He smiled. "It'd be useless for you to trust us if we didn't even give you a reason to."

"Well thanks." I said. We walked straight past the entrance to the park, and past a sharp turn in the path soon after. The trees cut out some, getting smaller, but not any less dense. Eventually the path widened considerably, but there was a clear reason why.

Shops lined both sides of the streets, little store fronts, with clothing and accessories inside. It didn't seem important to anyone looking on, but the thought of new clothes did get me excited. All the doors were locked and boarded up though, along with the windows. There were only a few teasing peeks of what could be inside. It didn't hold my attention for long.

In the middle of the road, the dirt grew darker, and redder, than the rest. I suddenly recognized the street. Western music echoed in the back of my mind.

Keina had died here.

I don't know why I hadn't expected it, there had been the greenhouse, and then the theater, and not, this, and probably, if we continued walking...

I shook the thought out of my head. I didn't need to be worrying about that when I still had to look around this area. A quick glance confirmed every store had been boarded up, but we tried to pry off the wooden barricades anyways.

It didn't last long before both Tsuneo and I got tired. Nothing was budging and I began to wonder if these buildings were even real, or just there to tempt us.

There was really no avoiding it. We walked that bit more down the path, and reached the final clearing, just like the others, with nothing leading out of it. It was the theater, the greenhouse, the graveyard.

It was a hospital.

A tall building, a single open window on the highest floor, another reddish stain on the packed dirt floor of the pathway.

I paused, standing there.

"Why?" I found myself asking. "Just, why?" Neither of us responded, but my legs moved me forward, my arms tilting the door open to allow me inside. It was dark, but a motion sensor caught my image and snapped all the lights on at once. Fluorescent tiles on the ceiling, blinking in random intervals. There was no one there, it was empty. Tsuneo was still outside. Something on the service desk caught my eye. It looked like a piece of paper, I approached slowly, almost afraid.

I was right to be afraid.

As I picked the small piece of thick paper up, and held in my hand, staring, I saw another photo. It lookd like the one Hensou had shown me, but a little different.

This one wasn't of Kaisui, Emiline, Shiroju, not smiling in a classroom, no, it wasn't anything like that. Instead, Miyano looked at me, she was beaming, the streak in her hair seemed more vibrant than ever, her smile did as well, and to either side of her, Shibou, and Keina, smiling the same, and laughing, laughing, again and again. Keina held a peace sign with xyr fingers, and xe had more piercings than I remembered. Shibou's expression seemed genuine, so much more than I had known him to be, like he actually knew what was going on and he was okay with it.

It had to be faked. There was no way this photo was real. I hesitated to do anything, but when I heard Tsuneo opening the door to enter, I stuffed the picture in my pocket, and cringed at the sound of it bending.

"Have you found anything?" He asked.

"Not really." I lied. "But I haven't looked much, there are still a few more floors."

"I guess that's true." He said. "Hey do you think there actually will be anything useful in here?"

"Probably not, I mean, we don't need any medical supplies for now, and this place looks abandoned. I don't think there will be anything that's not been expired for years already."

"That's too bad." He sighed. "I guess what we've got in the infirmary and the lab will have to do."

"It's not like the infirmary is bad at all." I said, moving to the exit.

"Are you sure you're not just partial?" He asked. "You've woken up there twice now after passing out."

"I'm totally not!" I insisted. He laughed. "Whatever, we should probably get back to everyone else, right?"

"Yeah, probably." He was still snickering under his breath. I pouted, playing along. "Hey, it's just like old times, right?"

"Hm?"

"Messing with each other, having fun and all, I've missed it." He sighed. "It's been a long time since we've been able to relieve the tension like this, even before we got trapped here."

"That's weird, I can't remember why though." I said.

"It was probably because I was practically nocturnal." He said. "That's not a possibility here though."

"Right, I guess it's not." I paused for a second, trying to think of a way to progress the conversation. "Hey, do you want to eat lunch together? It's not like you can cook anything by yourself."

"Sure." He said. "As long as you cook up something good without burning down the kitchen."

"Ugh, are we still not over that?" I asked. We laughed.

After eating lunch, Tsuneo and I left for a while to do our own things. He looked very tired, I assumed he went off to sleep.

I figured I'd go to the greenhouse, it was always a nice quiet place to sit and just think, even if it did remind me of Kawada's execution.

The flowers smelled nice, as always, a gentle scent that wasn't overly unenjoyable. Not a perfume, something less artificial. Then again, most of the flowers here were artificial in some way. Blue roses didn't exist last time I checked.

It was strange how they all flourished, without anyone there watching to take care of them. Most of them were unique breeds, I thought, things that couldn't have grown so well elsewhere.

I sat down on the edge of the same sakura covered flower box that I had talked with Miyano on before even the second trial. I knew it had only been a few days, but it felt so long ago. It was only natural, that many deaths in such a short timeframe would mess with one's perception of the progression of time. I tried not to think about what would happen if that rate kept up.

I plucked another single pink rose and started picking the thorns off of it. It was pretty, and it could have been poetic, to compare the lifespan of the flower being cut off the moment I plucked it the same way we were put here. To think about the end in the place it started.

No, it wasn't poetic. It was just sad.

I breathed in the air, suddenly sickly sweet, and stood up slowly, taking time to let it burn at my nostrils. I could taste it now, it was everywhere. I sniffed at the rose, it had no smell compared to the surrounding air.

Maybe I could look at the Camellias.

Instead I turned to leave, get some fresh air from the trees which seemed so much more toxic. I hummed that tune, still stuck in my head after all that time. I could hear her singing with me. It didn't help.

I found I had started moving without thinking, towards the graveyard, rose in hand. But it made sense, it felt right to go this way.

I stopped at her grave and placed the rose. I could only think I felt her there with me, but I knew it was more than a thought. She was here with me, they all were.

I was glad.

I breathed in the cool, clean air until I couldn't smell the flowers anymore.

My chest hurt, and I tried to ignore the cold stinging a bit more on my face where the tears fell.

I never wanted to lose anyone again. My memories weren't even worth it, I didn't care.

Nothing could be worth another death.

I turned and stood up. I wanted to punch myself for not expecting the next thing to happen. I had always done it to everyone else.

"Sorry." Oshima said. He held a bundle of his green lilies in one hand. "I didn't expect anyone to-"

"It's fine." I cut him off. I pulled the edge of my sleeve over my hand to dry the tears away from my eyes. "I'll wait for you, we can walk back together afterwards, alright?"

"Yeah." He knelt by Kawada's grave. I waited just outside the gate until he met me again. We walked together for a while, and eventually we started talking.

"We can't let anyone else die." I decided.

"I don't think we actually have any control over that." He lamented. "Each one of us has free will, right? It'd be wrong to take that away somehow."

"I don't mean to take that away from them, I mean" I sighed. "I don't know what i mean. I just don't want anyone else to die."

"I don't want that to happen either." He said. "But even if we do something about the current motive, monokuma is just going to give us another."

"And then we'd just end up staying in this forest forever." I said. "I don't think that's too much of a favorable option."

"There's no way out though, like, how did they even sneak us inside here if there's no way out?" He asked.

"Then, there must be an exit." I said. "Some way out of the resort."

"Yeah, I mean, you don't build a building without a door. I would know especially." He laughed.

"You're a contractor, though." I said. "What do contractors even actually do?"

"Some of 'em just hire people and push 'em around until the building they're making is the way they like it." He explained. "But everyone knows the best contractors are the ones that are hands-on and do a lot of the work themselves. That's what I try to do, at least."

"So, like, do you sell the houses yourself after you finish them? Do you have a brother or someone who helps you?" I asked. "I don't see how you could do it all on your own."

"Nah, my lil' bro's not that much into real-estate." Oshima said. "He's young though, and even if he changed his mind, I would tell him to enjoy the lack of responsibility while he could."

"Whoa wait?" I stopped walking, shocked. "You actually have a little brother?"

"I'm not entirely sure if 'little' is the right word to describe him." He chuckled. "But yeah, I do, he's actually been pre-accepted into Hope's Peak for his own talent, what was it again? I really should have paid more attention when I visited home."

"I hope he doesn't end up in a place like this." I said.

"Are you kidding? I wouldn't wish this place on my worst enemy!" He paused. "I think he could handle it though, maybe not mentally, but everyone else would be too afraid to try murdering him at least. It's worked for me so far."

"I don't think that's the only reason you're still alive." I said. "Shibou could have had Keina poison and kill you just as easily he had you assaulted, you were just had better luck than Hensou."

"Yeah, luck. That could be it." He sighed. "But if it is luck, I feel like it's going to run out pretty soon now."

"There's a reason Super High School Level Good Luck is a talent, huh?" I joked.

"Wait, Ajiyama-chan." He stopped short and stared at me. "How do you know about Super High School Level Good Luck? I thought you didn't remember anything related to Hope's Peak."

"Huh?" I thought. "That's right, how could I have known that? I don't, I mean, it just popped into my head, and,"

"Do you think you're remembering things?" He asked.

"I don't know, I..."

"But why Good Luck?" He continued.

"Maybe I had some sort of connection to it?" I wondered aloud. "I don't know, but no one has ever told me about it, as far as I can remember. I shouldn't know, but somehow I do, I..."

"I'm sure you'll find out eventually." He said. "I'd say even you could be Super High School Level Good Luck, it's possible."

"Possible, I guess." I sighed. "I don't think so, though, it would have clicked as being my talent if it was, right? Besides, what kind of super lucky person gets trapped in a killing game on their first day of school?"

"I guess so." Oshima let out a loud shout in frustration. "This is so confusing, I've never dealt with amnesia before, like, what do you even do about it?"

"I don't know if I've dealt with it either." I said. "But I wouldn't worry about it. If I need to remember, I will, but I don't need to right now. I think I'm okay with that."

"You're just so confident about this." Oshima said. "I don't know how you can just accept that a whole huge part of your life is missing, or move past it."

"I'm not." I said. "I'm carrying it with me, my missing memories, and the memory of everyone who's died so far. I don't forget it, it's there, just, I can't forget all the good things that have happened either, so we have to remember and move forward with the past, instead of denying it."

"Good luck." He nodded. "I'll try my best, too."

"We should probably get back." I said. "Someone could be waiting for up, to worsen the motive."

"If it's monokuma, isn't that just more of a reason not to show up?" He groaned.

"We've seen all that he can do already. There's no avoiding it." I said. "The best thing to do is just ignore what he says instead."

"So so, you think you can ignore me?" Speak of the devil.

"What do you want, monokuma?" Oshima demanded.

"Oh, nothing much," monokuma said. "I just wanted to give everyone some hints about the spy, that's all. Just in case, you know how it is."

"We don't need your hints." I said. "We don't need your motives at all!"

"Are you saying you'd kill without one?" He questioned. "Oh, goodie, goodie, we've got a volunteer!"

"That's not what I'm saying, and you know it!"

"Fine, fine, then I guess you don't need to know that the spy is tall, with brown hair, and dark colored eyes." He laughed. "They also don't remember that they're the spy! How fun! I'll just leave you two alone now, to process this new information."

"Does that really tell us anything?" I asked Oshima, once monokuma had left.

"Maybe." Oshima was shuddering, but only slightly. "Neither you or your brother match the description at least, that's good right? We can't doubt you for not knowing your talents anymore."

"His addition backfired on him then!" I proclaimed. Oshima's smile was weak.

"Doesn't it highlight a few people as suspicious, though?" He asked. "If we don't have to know for sure that we are the spy ourself, then, Hiniwa-kun, Odori-san, and I-"

"Not you." I interrupted. "Sure, you're really fricking tall, and you've got brown hair and dark brown eyes, you match the physical description, but I know. I know it's not you." He made a questioning look, but I continued before he could object. "Odori-san, and Hiniwa-kun, neither of them talk much, you talk too much to not have let something suspicious like missing memories or uneasy feelings slip already."

"That sounds more like an insult than reassurance." He said.

"It was supposed to be encouraging, I promise." I tried my best to cheer him up by smiling, but it didn't work. "I believe in you, Oshima-kun, your quality of character, your intentions, your personality, none of them are malicient in any way. If you can't trust yourself, trust me, and I'll trust you."

"I'm not sure I get it." He sighed. "But okay, I'll trust you, Ajiyama-chan."

I never told him about the missing memories that Hiniwa had confessed to me.

Dinner that night was cold and silent. It was easy to make the assumption that monokuma had gone around and told everyone else the same hints, due to the general atmosphere. Hiniwa pushed the food around on his place, while contorting his face in worry. He wasn't actually eating anything. He left before the rest of us, with his plate still full. Everyone else seemed to have a place to go, they all left on their own. The less people in the room, the harder it got for me to breathe. The air felt thick with despair.

I found that I hadn't eaten any of my own dinner either. I felt sick. I threw it in the trash, it was a waste, and probably unhealthy not to eat anything, but I did not care, not at that time.

I walked over to the computer lab. The place was empty, silent. No one had moved it since the first trial, since then...

The air hung thicker.

I tried to pinpoint the exact spot in the room Kaisui had died, like it would give me some connection to the person that none of us had known.

If I remembered right, Kaisui was around 5'9”, that was considerably tall. And he had brown hair, if a bit reddish, and dark eyes, dark enough to be put on the black team.

What kind of a talent is an illustrator anyways?

I decided to go somewhere else.

I kept telling myself I did not doubt my friends.

Not any of them.

Not any who were alive.

Not any who were suspicious and dead.

He's not suspicious.

What use would monokuma have with a spy who got himself killed off first anyways?

Those four, and only those four, fit the description. I only wanted to give people a reason not to distrust those alive. I only wanted to feel like I knew everyone still. I wanted a reason to believe, that _all_ of us would get out alive.

I decided to leave the computer lab before I fell asleep there, it was getting late.

I wasn't going to sleep for a while though.

END Day 1


	20. Chapter Four: Building the Road to Despair: Daily Life- Day 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Valentine's Day/ Friday the 13th! Enjoy some sad children.

It had been a very sleepless night.

I couldn’t get myself to stop thinking about things. I was only even more tired when it reached the time I was supposed to wake up. This couldn't end well. I didn't want to pass out again.

I didn't want people to think I had been murdered when I didn't show up either.

I gave up and trudged to breakfast. I picked at my food, no one spoke, no one ever spoke. The silence echoed, it bounced off the walls and folded into itself, to make huge empty vibrations of nothingness.

It felt like the world was wavering around me, like something was missing, or I didn't really exist. Like fiction, like nothing was real.

I jolted back awake when I felt Odori's hand on my shoulder.

"Are you okay?" She asked. Everyone else had left, the room was empty.

"No, not really." I said. My eyes were strained to even keep open. I was pretty sure I was blinking more often than usual. The atmosphere stung at my lungs.

"Is it the motive?" I nodded in response to her. "Would you appreciate someone to converse with? I have observed you often do."

"I guess so." I sighed. "Let's just talk about something else though. I don't want to think about it."

"Alright then, do you happen to have any suggestions on a topic? I doubt any conversation I would initiate would interest you." Her voice was warmer than usual.

"That's not true." I said. "Anything you could say would be a welcome change of pace right now."

"Well," she paused. "If you are certain, I suppose I could make an attempt."

"I'm sure you'll do fine."

"Then, perhaps I could recount an event which occurred at one point in my past?"

"A story sounds great." I smiled.

"I cannot guarantee the quality," she said. "But since you are so insistent that you will not mind, I will do my best. Which of them should I make use of though, it is hard to decide."

"Maybe the story of when you learned you were accepted into Hope's Peak?" I suggested. "Since it seems so important to our current situation."

"I would not have though you might have found that interesting." She said. "However, it was your suggestion, so you must be interested. To be honest, it was a normal say for me. A few days prior, I had competed in a higher ranking track meet, upper regional level, and a letter came in the mail. My grandmother was the first to lay eyes upon the return address and seal, and she called the entire family into the main room to watch me open it. My mother and father both cried tears of joy, but most of my siblings and cousins soon became jealous."

"Your family must be pretty big, Odori-san." I said

"Fairly," she replied. "I would not think of it as exceptionally large myself; however we all live under the same roof, dating back to my great-grandfather. It does get a bit crowded and hectic every once in a while."

"Have you ever thought of moving out?" I asked. "Since it gets so crowded."

"I am not sure if I have ever had any say in the matter." She said. "From the moment my talent was discovered, when I learned to walk at such a young age, everything has been decided for me. They all figured I had been destined to bring glory to the Odori name."

"Are you happy though?"

"Am I... happy?" Odori paused. "I do not know. I have never been taught to consider my own emotions, so over time, I lost track of them."

"I'm sure you'll find them again." I smiled for her. "You _are_ destined for great things, not for your family's sake, but for your own."

"I appreciate the sentiment." She said, and she smiled back. It didn't look like something she was used to, but it was genuine.

After a small awkward silence settled in, Odori sighed softly and began to speak.

"The topic I relayed was unsatisfactory." Her smile had faded. "I apologize, Ajiyama-san."

"No, no! It's not your fault!" I insisted. "If anyone, it's me, I was the one who suggested it in the first place. Besides, we just gotta move to a new one, um, what do you like to do for fun?"

"Fun? I am not sure I was allowed to pursue any activities for pure leisure." She said.

"Well then, did you have any clubs in middle school?"

"I was an honorary member of the local track and field team, but I often neglected practice in favor of working alone."

"Wow! I didn't think you'd be the type to skip out!" I said.

"Well, I did say that I was an honorary member," she said. "The only condition of my membership was that I compete in their name at competitions and that they be able to advertise my involvement after my graduation."

"Oh, okay then," I, too, was stumped for conversation.

"I really must apologize, I have never been a skilled conversationalist." She bowed only slightly in apology, but the tip of her hair moved by a large margin.

"No, it's just that, is there anything you ever did on your own?" I asked. "For your own sake?"

"What do you mean to say?"

"I'm saying, didn't you ever make your own choices? Your family sounds so strict!"

"I never thought of it that way." She said. "Our interests seemed to align well, and there were never any arguments, it was just the way things were."

"And that doesn't bother you at all? Not having free will."

"Not particularly," she said. "I most likely would have made the same choices had I been given the opportunity."

"But what I'm saying is that you didn't!" I said. "What would you have done if you didn't want to do what they asked?"

"It depends on the situation, really. I think you may be overreacting." She said. "Your face is fairly flushed, perhaps you should calm down before you hurt yourself."

I sighed heavily, and stopped myself from crossing my arms. I felt childish with the way she was responding to me, but I couldn't understand why she wouldn't be angry at her family for the way they controlled every aspect of her life. I was always allowed to make my own choices; I could do anything I ever wanted as long as the price fit inside my allowance.

But then again, my family was never home. I wasn't quite so close to anyone except for Tsuneo, and even him I only saw in the mornings and evenings. I took a deep breath to steady the heartbeat I hadn't noticed speeding up.

"Can we actually talk about the motive?" I asked, not quite sure of what I was saying. "I think it's been getting to me."

"Are you sure?" Odori asked. "You were quite adamant earlier of not wanting to."

"I'm sure, yeah." I said. "I can't think of anything else, and you must be worried too, right?"

"I am," she said. "However, I cannot allow this to bother me. There are more important things to worry about."

"Are you sure?" I asked. "Because before, every time monokuma gave us a motive..."

"I will make sure that nothing happens." She said. "I promise you."

"But you aren't the only one." I said. "There's Oshima-kun, and Hiniwa too, and..."

"I said I will keep _anything_ from happening." Odori insisted. "I will do everything in my power to prevent anything from happening. We cannot afford another death due to the spy."

"Right, I know, thanks..." I couldn't bring myself to say anymore. Maybe I was worrying too much about this. It didn't seem to bother Odori too much, but then, barely anything ever did.

"You miss her, do you not?"

"Huh?"

"Miyano-san, none of the previous deaths seemed to unsettle you this way."

"Oh, I guess, yeah."

"It is okay to be upset." She said. "This situation, you have no reason not to mourn her death. Just be sure you don't endanger yourself by doing so."

"Right... sure..."

"There is nobody here who wouldn't want to protect you, Ajiyama-san. I believe it is time you start putting faith in that."

I said nothing. It was hard to speak, so instead, I sat on the ground, along the edge of the room, held my face in my hands, and cried.

Quietly, silent eve, but the tears still burned coming down. I hated not being strong, but I was too weak to hide it. Too weak to protect anyone, to protect myself. All this time I'd declared that no one would die, but 9 grave stones, 9 portraits in the trial room, 9 dead friends, they all disagreed with me. I felt useless, and sad. It was not a spectacular sadness, it felt normal, and I hated it more for that.

Odori had already left by the time I stopped, the salt drying against my cheeks. It was early in the afternoon my now, I still had time to do something.

It was hard to concentrate walking, but maybe I hit a stroke of luck, when Emmi showed up, walking into the dining hall. Without pupils, it was hard to tell, but I felt their eyes lock onto me.

"Ajiyama-chan, are you alright?' They asked. "You look like something has been bothering you, have you been crying?"

"Yeah," I admitted. "It's nothing important though, don't worry about it."

"I can't help being curious about what is wrong." they said. "But I guess it can wait until you are comfortable telling me. I am trying to do this thing where I respect other people's boundaries. I think I'm getting better at it."

"I'm sure you'll get the hang of it." I said.

"I hope so too! It will be a very useful skill I think." They said. "I guess I've got a lot of catching up to do with the rest of you! I'm a lot younger after all."

"You got to have most of the knowledge you need programmed into you though." I said. "A lot of humans would probably do anything for that."

"I did not get to have all of the experiences involved in it." They said. "I'd love to try going to a school one day, it would be interesting, even if most of the experience would just be people staring at me."

"School really isn't worth it." You say.

"Well, if you're forced to go to it you lose interest." Emmi said. "I, like most humans, have been made to have a natural thirst for knowledge. People like to know things, but they don't like being graded or being forced to learn a certain way. If people were allowed to learn how they wanted I think there wouldn't be such a problem."

"Such an alarming amount of insight from someone who's never had to face the horror of public school." I said.

"Were you not that popular?" Emmi asked. "I would have thought someone with the personality you have would instantly become friends with any person they talked to. And you don't sound like someone who would fail so many tests either."

"Well, I did do really well in school." You say. "But I never joined any clubs, and I never connected with any of the people there. I probably could have tried harder, but I don't know, it didn't matter so much to me interacting with them myself as watching other people interact."

"That's an interesting standpoint." Emmi said. "You know, I like watching the others as well. Even with all the work Emiline did, I still am not fully functional, and it shows sometimes. I find it a bit difficult to talk to people sometimes."

"Is that why you stayed in the warehouse instead of the Purple Cabin with Shibou?" I asked.

"What, I thought I didn't tell anyone about that." Emmi said. "I guess I was pretty obvious though. Really it wasn't because of Shibou so much as that my charging cables and equipment were all already in the Warehouse. It would have been a pain to move it all."

"Tell me about it," I sighed, remembering helping Emiline move all the parts.

"I don't think it will cause an issue though." They continued. "I'm not actually sleeping in there, so it shouldn't be counted as breaking the rules. We'll just have to take up a diplomatic approach with monokuma should it become an issue."

"I feel like you would be a great match against him in a fight though." I said. "Maybe you'd even be stronger!"

"I don't doubt I could do something," they said. "However, I am not so militantly armed as monokuma. I believe each copy of him is equipped with a method of explosives, and even one well aimed blast could burn out my core mainframe."

"What was that again?" I asked. "I'm not that good with computers, I don't understand what you're saying at all."

"Hmm, well you see, there are certain bits of circuitry that when severed disrupt the movement and processes of my body." Emmi said. "A lot of those important ones are in my head, so if I got hurt there it would basically kill me. Perhaps as a bit of ironic foresight, none of those components were put in my chest, but if my head were simply detached from my body it would only be a simple matter of reconnecting the wires."

"I still don't get it." I sighed. "Thanks for trying to explain, though."

"Hey, they wouldn't give out titles like Super High School Level Robotics Engineer to anyone, right?" Emmi laughed. "Emiline was something special, you shouldn't try to compare your every day knowledge to her expertise."

"Maybe if I knew my own talent it wouldn't be a problem." I said. "It's a lot easier to compare yourself when you seem normal to just about everyone."

"Hmm, I don't think you're normal." Emmi said. "I don't mean that in a bad way, but there is something special about you, Ajiyama-chan, if only one of us could put our finger on it."

"Thanks." I said, then thought for a moment. "Hey, Emmi, you don't eat, right, so why were you headed to the dining hall in the first place?"

"Oh, Odori-san told me you were here." They said. "And that you might need some help calming down that she could not give."

"That was, very kind of her." I said. "But why would she bother?"

"You were crying, Ajiyama-chan, and Odori does not know how to deal with people." Emmi said. "She was trying to protect you, she does care."

"Well I know that, but..." I trailed off. I didn't know what I meant.

"You are insecure because of the things you don't know." Emmi said. "It's simple really, take away something like memory or thoughts from a human and they start freaking out about it. A basic idea, fortified by this experiment with you and the others."

"Could you stop talking like that, it's freaking me out." I said.

"No, I don't think I should." They replied. "One of the steps to acceptance is realizing what's wrong, right? I don't think you quite understand yet, and I'm trying to explain the faulty parts of a human mindset. You see, you're never really in control, even if you seem to be, and those 'in control' of you are still only under the influence of the natural algorithms of the world."

"Emmi, really, please stop talking like that." I pleaded.

"It's only the truth, you like the truth don't you? I always thought you did, anyways. Every person cracks under the pressure eventually, and you should know that. Monokuma knows how to play to the weaknesses of the people here and get them to bend to his will. It's all just a game."

"I have to go." I said, and I left before they could say anything else. I rushed around, unsure of where I was going, but I ended up at the green cabin. I laid down on the bed, hoping I could stop thinking about what everyone else was trying to say to me.

I woke up at 10 pm, hearing the nighttime announcement to realize I had fallen asleep. It was dark out now, but still bright by moon light. It faded around the edges of the trees and blurred into obscurity.

I was still tired, but I wouldn't be able to sleep for a while, or maybe I just didn't want to. The air was just cool enough to enjoy. _A walk outside might be nice._ I thought. No, I wasn't thinking, but that was okay. The world spun around me solely to compliment my existence.

I thought I heard music coming from somewhere, but as soon as I recognized it, it stopped. It started again whenever I wasn't thinking, but it was nice, I supposed. Some nice woodwind part, the melody, probably, low brassy sounds in the background.

I decided to find the source of the music.

It was hard, as whenever I got a good lead on which direction to go in, it stopped, and I lost track of where I thought it was.

I must have looked ridiculous, following a noise no one else could even hear, but I didn't mind. I was tired. This was a sweet escape. I took a deep breath. The air smelled sweet, but clean.

Deities spoke in hushed tones at the back of my mind. I let them, because I didn't really mind. I considered for a brief moment that I really needed sleep. I was right, probably, but I continued to walk around without aim.

I was living on borrowed time, stolen from those nine who deserved it more than I. All of them were super, ultimate, the best that they could be, I began to believe I didn't have a real talent. What could I even be good at, it didn't feel like there was anything but an empty hole in my mind when I asked the question. I said it over and over again, silent, aloud, but no one heard, no one answered, not even myself.

My head hurt.

The whole world was in a dream-like state.

I somehow ended up back at my cabin, the door was swung open. Maybe I left it that way.

My steps felt heavy as I walked to my bed. The floor was cold. Everything was cold.

A sudden pain shot at the back of my head, and I tripped over the stairs. I couldn't quite feel the pain on my shins, and my hands which had broken the fall. I thought I saw red swelling up to the surface, before I fell asleep one more time, more like passed out, into darkness.

END Day 2

Day ?

Was I awake? I wasn't sure. My hands were numb, my legs too. I could barely open my eyes, and they refused to stay that way. My eyelids fluttered, but I couldn't see anything. I heard noises, but they sounded far away. I focused as best I could to hear, but I couldn't tell much.

"Wait! Is she awake?"

"You're right! Her eyes are moving!"

'Hey! Don't mess with her, it might be dangerous!"

"But she's finally waking up! I'm excited!"

"Still, we should be careful, don't wake her."

"If you're sure that's the right idea..."

"Why dontcha trust someone for once, you're such a hard ass, S-"

The words stopped making sense after that. I gave up and fell asleep again.

I woke up next feeling refreshed. I couldn't tell if it was a dream or not, though. A woman in a long jacket, and two men in dress wear were standing over me, in some kind of bed, but their faces were blurred out. The woman had long silver hair, and a scarf that was black and white, a monokuma head hanging at each end. I couldn't make out much detail of the other two, though. They both looked very unfamiliar. The three of them were talking about something.

I slipped again and fell asleep. Then there were flashing lights, no, fire, pieces of the ceiling falling down around me. I blinked, trying to figure things out, but the instinct hit me first, I was going to die. I looked around for a way out. Another explosion went off behind me. I bent over to avoid injury. A voice called out to me.

"Hey! This way!" It said. "Follow me, I can get you out of here!"

I followed the voice through the hallway, to another room, and there was a huge white flash. I blinked, stuttering, gasping for air.

and then I woke up.

I was heaving, catching my breath from the dream, was it a dream? It had seemed so real. I felt like all three of them had happened, but that was impossible. I looked around to confirm I was actually awake this time.

The room was unfamiliar, a blank white slate. A few machines with flashing lights scattered about. My hands were bandaged up, Red tints peeked through the white gauze. I was wearing a blue hospital gown. There were things stuck in my arms, I wasn't sure what they were. Maybe I had been out for a while. The air was sterile, devoid of noise, of anything.

I blinked, pinched the arm lacking things stuck in it. That actually hurt. I was awake, at least. My heartbeat was fast, and I tried to calm it down. It took a multitude of deep breaths and assurances to myself that things were okay. They were not, but I could face a lie for this. Even after it slowed, my heartbeat still felt loud.

There was nobody in the room.

There was no one.

Nobody.

but myself.

I found I was still breathing heavily. Why was the room so empty? All those other times, someone had been there to greet me when I woke up, was that it? Was it being a different room from the infirmary?

No, that wasn't right.

I stretched my fingers to try and get some feeling in my hands, but that hurt. I strained my neck to look at them, that hurt too, but I still looked.

There were wrapped up right with thick gauze. Only my palms were stained with blood. It was probably when I tripped and fell, blocked the fall with my hands. They shouldn't have bled this much though, maybe just bruised a little.

"Ow." I said, barely a whisper, and I didn't know what for, but a lot of things hurt.

I heard the door opening, and I couldn't say I didn't look up excited. I hoped it was someone like Tsuneo or Oshima coming to check on me.

It was not.

I had gotten my hopes up for nothing but more confusion.

The same Matsuda stood at the door. The one wrapped up, with barely her face showing.

"You're finally up." She said.

"Yeah," my voice was hoarse.

"Good, but aren't you worried?"

"What would I be worried for?"

"You're remembering. _She_ doesn't want that."

"She?"

"If I tell you who I mean she'll only try harder to kill you."

"Kill me?"

"The mastermind has many methods of controlling her pawns. I don't doubt she's tried to get rid of you before. You're very meddlesome."

"Wait, I'm confused." I said. "You know who the mastermind is?" I tried to get out of bed, but cringed at the discomfort.

"You shouldn't strain yourself." She said. "Everyone else is watching out for you, you don't have to try so hard."

"But, everyone, don't they want to see me now that I'm awake?"

"Probably, yes." She said. "Yeah, go ahead and go, just be more careful. Drink some water too."

"Right, thanks _mom_."

"Haha, I'm serious though."

"Fine, but what about you?" I asked.

"I have to go." She smiled, then turned to the door and left again.

"Wait!" I called after her, but she was gone. The door closed behind her loudly.

I ignored the pain and fought to get out of bed. My legs were barely steady, and I walked slowly. Honestly, that was a bad idea, but I couldn't keep myself from joining everyone else. As I walked more, I got used to the pain, and picked up speed. I was walking normally by the time I reached the door. I pushed it open, and

Monokuma was there waiting for me.

"Upupupu, look who's finally awake!" He cackled. The door slammed behind me. "I'm so glad! You're here just in time!"

"In time for what?" I asked.

"The Class Trial!" He shouted, laughing. I stood in stunned silence. "You see, a body has been discovered!"

"What, I..."

"Everyone else is at the carnival grounds. You better get going before I call time! The clock is ticking."

I was running before I realized I could still move. Straight to the stairs down from the second floor of the Hospital I had apparently been residing in, straight through the shopping district, straight to the entrance to the carnival grounds.

I was not prepared for the sight I saw.

"Tsuneo," I said. Everyone was staring at me in shock that I was alive. "Tell me what happened."

END Chapter 4 Daily Life.

5/6? Students Remain

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Schrodinger's Oshima can be described as a character who is neither alive nor dead but instead in the states of both alive and dead simultaneously until you open the box and he is seen.


	21. Chapter Four: Building the Road to Despair: Deadly Life

You return home rather early, for yourself at least. Masuyo isn't here yet. Maybe you'll read for a while. You sit at your desk and stare out the window instead. There are no books here except for the one Masuyo is writing, and you know what happens in that one all too well.

It's a dark night. The trees are swaying in the wind stoically. It feels like there's a draft in here. Did you forget to close the door?

The sound of the door shutting says yes, you did.

It could be someone trying to kill you, but no one so loud could be trying to sneak up on you. You decide that it's probably Masuyo coming home late like you thought.

Her steps don't sound entirely on beat with what they normally would be. Is she okay? You turn around in your chair to greet her to hear a thud. She's tripped on the steps, and, oh my god, is that blood?!

You nearly knock over your desk chair trying to get to her. She's not responding. There's getting to be a lot of blood, and you don't know what's wrong, if she hit her head or scraped up her knees, or hurt her arms or broke something in the fall. You send a mass text out to everyone for help.

Oshima is the first to arrive. He helps you carry her, actually does all the carrying himself, and you meet Matsuda and Hiniwa once outside. They say something in concern, but you block it out in favor of moving quicker on your way to the infirmary. Odori is close behind, and then Soushin, it's a quick run, and you spot Emmi, joining the rush, coming out of forest path 1. You forget they live in the warehouse sometimes, but that doesn't matter.

You make a sharp turn down forest path 3, there's no way the supplies in the infirmary will be able to cover all of what's wrong. Hiniwa catches up to you by the time you reach the hospital, and the two of you hold the doors open for Oshima to get inside easier. He rushes upstairs, and Odori follows after him. You really wish someone with better medical experience was here, but she's better than nothing.

Monokuma shows up, in mock medical uniform, and explains quickly that he will take care of the procedure along with the help of Odori and Oshima. He won't let you up the stairs until the procedure is done, he says.

The rest of the people who were lagging behind catch up now.

"I don't know what's going on," Soushin says. "But it doesn't sound good."

"No," you say. "It isn't."

 

The next morning, monokuma still hasn't let you in to see Masuyo, and you're still worried about her. You shrug it off as best as you can. The most you can do for her is probably just let her sleep. It's hard to not be concerned though.

Breakfast tastes bland. It probably still would have even if Hensou had cooked it, or anyone else really. Matsuda explains that she didn't feel like cooking today, so she didn't, and left it to someone else. You don't really care.

It's somewhat filling, but breakfast is just a chore to you nowadays.

You feel dead inside.

 

Days pass, maybe just one or two, maybe a week, maybe more, you lose track. Nothing happens of interest.

 

You confront Hiniwa after everyone's left breakfast one morning. He's the kind of person who takes care of the dirty dishes everyone leaves behind. You don't appreciate it.

"Don't think I don't find you suspicious." You say. You refuse to help him, since this seemingly good hearted action is probably actually for some sort of malevolent overall purpose.

"What do you mean?" He asks. He's got a substantial stack of bowls built up.

"Your reaction to the motive, Masuyo's sudden low health, it's obvious you're the spy. You've done something to her too." He doesn't look up.

"She hadn't been sleeping normally, had she?" He asks. You don't see the relevance.

"Yeah, why?"

"People need to sleep. Her lack of it is probably the real issue here." He carries the bowls into the kitchen, to the sink.

"How does that prove you're not the spy though?"

"It doesn't." He says. There's a clattering of dishes and the water turns on. "But you won't believe me no matter what I say. You've grown irrational lately without her."

"Well, you're right that I won't believe you." You follow him into the kitchen.

"I figured as much." He sighs. "I don't understand why you've got such a grudge on me."

"You're a very suspicious person." You say.

"I could say the same about you." He responds. The faucet turns off. He starts to dry the dishes, wiping the towel along each one.

"I don't fit the description of the spy."

"You could still be the mastermind."

"As if!"

"So what you're saying is that someone who claims not to remember anything isn't suspicious."

"I remember some things..." You insist.

"I thought so." He finishes drying the dishes with a flair you can't help but take as a challenge. He turns to face you.

"I still don't trust you." You say.

"I know." He says. "But you should be aware, I don't trust you either."

"As expected."

"You look surprised."

"I'm not."

"I don't think you're so sure." He brushes past you while leaving. "Goodbye."

You were blocking the path, there was no way to avoid him passing you, but

You swing around and hit him as hard as you can. It's a hard blow, and the angle is awkward, but you land it, and he turns back to face you again.

"Are you sure you really want to do that?" He asks. It sounds menacing, but you don't care.

"Bring it on, teaboo." You say. He draws back, and you don't exactly black out at the blow, but it's hard to remember what happens in the fight after that. Stuff probably gets knocked over in the kitchen, as you see it on the floor when you come to your senses again. You've got a few considerable bruises, and Hiniwa does too. You're slumped down on the wall, and he's beside you, talking about something.

"And that's why I-"

"I'm sorry, what?" You interrupt. "I wasn't listening."

"It's nothing," he sighs, almost disappointedly. "You should be leaving soon, right?"

"Why?"

"Oh, I guess there is no reason, huh?" He's looking down, and you think you might notice a bit of pink tinting the outside edge of his ear.

"Is something wrong?" You ask. You try to tell yourself that you really don't care about this guy, but it's hard to believe.

"No, I don't think so," he says. "You don't care anyways, right?" but you do and you hate it. You're just too human to hate this guy completely without a solid reason other than a bad vibe. He turns to face you again, and your faces are both bloodied and bruised and ruined, but so close, and

The monitor switches on with a click. You can't help turning your attention to it, to hear the words you always dread.

"A body has been discovered! After a brief period of investigation, the class trial will commence."

You get up quickly, alerted. Hiniwa follows suit. In a momentary lapse of judgment, you trust him, nod, and start heading off to find the body, when you hear something else.

"A body has been discovered! After a brief period of investigation, the class trial will commence."

You don't know why you didn't expect that. It's always been two, ever since the second trial.

It still hurts.

You keep running, trying to find the place where the bodies were found. They're normally in the new areas, so you first check forest path 3. You don't even reach the carnival grounds before you spot blood, and you follow the trail of it that branches further down the path. You stop, standing at the scene, completely baffled at what you see.

How could Odori die? Out of all of you, she was the strongest, her only competition being Oshima, but then, that would mean he had...

Emmi comes running up.

"Oh good, you two are here!" They say, stepping over Matsuda to reach you.

"Couldn't you, maybe, not do that to a dead body?" Hiniwa asks.

"Matsuda-san isn't dead." They say rather bluntly. "She's just passed out."

"Then, who was," you start to say. Images of Masuyo and Oshima flash through your head, but mostly Masuyo.

"The second announcement?" They finish your thought. "That's what I was going to talk about, follow me."

"Where are we going?" You ask, but Emmi ignores you by starting to walk away, in the direction you came. You rush after her, avoiding the other two bodies on the ground, one alive, one dead, both soaked in blood.

Emmi is moving quickly, following the blood trail on the ground. It's a fairly long trail, but at the end of it,

The haunted house.

There's nobody inside, you're pretty sure of that just by what you see outside. There's a large pool of blood on the ground, and near the center of it,

Oshima.

It's going to be a long day.

END Tsuneo's Daily Life  
6 students remain

Deadly Life

"So, Oshima-kun..." Masuyo says as you finish your story.

"Yeah, he's a ways away, but if you follow the trail," you give a vague hand gesture in that direction.

"Only six left, huh..." she says.

"You know, I would say this was the perfect time to start tempting you with the final trial!" Monokuma shouts, springing up out of nowhere. "But my motives are drastically different from those last ones; the number is still way too big!"

"The file?" Hiniwa demands.

"Whoa! What happened to you?" Monokuma asks. "Did you get into a fight or something? What a brute!"

"The file, monokuma." Emmi says. The bear sighs.

"Fine, fine, no fun allowed, I get it. Here you go," he drops the file on the bloody ground, narrowly avoiding it getting soaked. "Excuse me if I want to enjoy myself, I didn't even get to fulfill my motive this time! The culprit can't receive the special files I promised."

"What do you mean?" Soushin asks.

"Oh, it doesn't matter much." He pushes it off. "Well, but what does matter is the spy, right?"

"Not really," Emmi says.

"Yes really!" Monokuma shouts. "In fact, just for that, I'm adding a special requirement just for this trial!"

"Do you really have to?" They ask.

"Yup! Definitely! So, not only do you have to find the murderer this chapter, but also the spy?"

"Why?" Emmi asks.

"Well, there's a reason, I would tell you, but it would ruin the surprise."

"You're sick." Emmi says. Monokuma perks up, as if remembering something important.

"Oh, one more thing, we're going by codenames for this trial!" He laughs. "Ajiyama Tsuneo is Eagle one,"

"Not this shit." Hiniwa sighs.

"Soushin Ritsu is been there done that," monokuma continues. "Hiniwa Masanori is currently doing that, Matsuda Hana is it happened once in a dream, Emmi is if I had to pick an AI, and Ajiyama Masuyo is... Eagle two."

"Oh thank god." Masuyo says. You don't get the joke, but you find yourself somewhat embarrassed anyways.

"Okay, Eagle One," Soushin says. "Let's get to work!"

"You're actually going to take monokuma seriously about that?" Masuyo asks, somewhat disturbed.

"Let's just get started." You sigh. "We've got twice as much work now that he's added a requirement."

Most everyone nods in agreement and you set to work. First to look at is the monokuma file, there are two victims again this time.

"<Monokuma File 4>

Victim 1: Oshima Yutaka  
Time of Death: About 9:00 am  
Place of Death: Carnival Grounds  
Cause of Death: Vital Organ failure  
Notes: He suffered from other minor wounds and bruising.

Victim 2: Odori Ayumi  
Time of Death: About 9:15 am  
Place of Death: Forest Path 3  
Cause of Death: Blood Loss  
Notes: She suffered from other minor wounds and bruising."

[Monokuma File 4 has been added to the truth bullets]

"The Causes and Times of death are the only things different between them." Masuyo says.

"Do you think it's important?" You ask.

"Not just that, but the fact they both suffered the same other wounds despite the change in cause of death." She says. "It's suspicious."

"I guess so, yeah."

"Hmmm," she turns to face you, with a serious expression. "There's a few more things. I was asleep in the hospital the entire time, I couldn't have done it, right?"

"Yeah, of course."

"And, did you notice?" She continues. "Oshima-kun and Odori-san, they were acting weird after the motive. They were suspicious, not only of each other, but of themselves as well."

[Masuyo's Account has been added to the truth bullets]

"Yeah, thanks."

"Oh wait, sorry, just one more thing." She says. "Did you notice what monokuma said?"

"Did he say something important?" You ask.

"So you didn't notice? That's disappointing." She sighs.

"I even got it," Emmi says. "You really didn't catch it? Maybe we should explain?"

"Yeah, I think that would help." You say.

"Okay then," Masuyo says. "His exact words were, 'The culprit can't receive the special files I promised.' I'll let you decide the relevance of that."

"Wait, you mean that part of the motive was actually important?" You ask.

"The entire motive was important!" Masuyo groans frustratedly. "The spy was either Oshima, Odori, or Hiniwa, and the murderer gets the student files after committing the murder."

[Murder Motive has been added to the truth bullets]

"Right, I guess the motive would be important." You say.

"Really? I had no idea." She says sarcastically. You decide to investigate the area.

There isn't much around Odori's body except for Matsuda, still sleeping.

You realize there are no guards appointed, but you guess you'll have to do without for this trial. Hopefully no one will try to mess anything up without those two on guard. There's just not enough people to realistically keep two out of the investigation.

Wait, you were investigating, back to that.

"Tsuuuneeeooo-chiii~!" Soushin calls, interrupting you again. "Aren’t you even going to ask why I'm dressed like this? I'm so disappointed. It could even be important to the investigation."

"Okay." You sigh. "Why are you dressed like that?" It's very tiring humoring this girl, worth the effort though.

"It's very simple really!" She laughs. "Matsuda-chan, Emmi-chi, and I were all in the bathhouse, when Emmi-chi up and decided to rush out of there without any explanation, and Matsuda-chan followed after them!"

"Yeah, sorry about that," Emmi says.

"Wasn't it at like 9:15, though?" Soushin asks. "That would give all three of us alibis! Tsuneo-chi, take note of that."

[Soushin's Account has been added to the truth bullets]

"Emmi-chi, why'd you rush out like that anyways?" Soushin pouts. "Really rude of you."

"Yeah, I know, but I had a good reason." They say. "Since I couldn't really hang out with you in the bathhouse, I was trying to intercept the signals of the text program so I could read the conversations of the people already dead."

"That's really creepy, I regret asking." Soushin says.

"Yes, but I wasn't peeping on anyone alive, right?" They pause, looking for a break in your accusatory faces. "I get bored! But, I saw a message string between Oshima and Odori, _by accident_ , mentioning a meeting, and I didn't want anything to happen, but I was too late."

[Secret Message has been added to the truth bullets]

"And that's when you found the bodies?" You ask.

"Yeah," Emmi says. "It was weird though, we had to wait until Soushin showed up for the announcement for Odori's body, but then Matsuda fainted, and when Soushin and I discovered Oshima's body we didn't have to wait for her. So for Odori we needed three people and for Oshima we only needed two? It doesn't make sense to me, but maybe this has something to do with who the culprit is?"

"Maybe," you say.

"It has to mean something, at least, even if it's just monokuma's laziness." They say.

[Emmi's Account has been added to the truth bullets]

Maybe you actually got some investigation done despite the interruptions. Nobody's trying to talk to you any more now.

You follow the blood trail to Oshima's body, stepping carefully over Matsuda. About two thirds of the way, a glint amongst the reddish pathway catches your eye. You bend down to inspect it.

There is a switch blade dropped on the ground here. A weapon? Maybe.

[Bloody Knife has been added to the truth bullets]

You finish your journey to the other scene of the crime, in front of the haunted house. There's a lot of blood here. Hiniwa is looking intently at Oshima's body, it's fairly unnerving.

"What the hell are you doing?" You ask. He doesn't look up as he answers.

"Investigating, of course."

"That's not a very informative answer."

"You're right about that, it isn't." You hear a squelching noise between words. Oh my god, what is he doing. "Don't worry, I'm almost done, if you want to look too."

"Look at what, exactly?" You think you may be starting to get sick.

"Oshima's chest wound, what else?" Yup, you're going to be sick. "I was never able to investigate the bodies before, with Shibou in the way and all."

"You're disgusting."

"Don't tell me you actually trust monokuma of all people to give us the information we need." He stands up, wiping an alarming amount of blood off of his hands and onto his pants. "Anyways, I'm done now, if you want a go, or, I've investigated Odori-san's body too, I could just give you a summary, if you trust me enough."

"As much as I'd like to decline both of those," you say. "I don't think I have a choice. I'll take you up on the offer for a summary on this one."

"Sure," he says. There's still a bit of pink staining his fingertips. "I'll start with Odori-san, then. Her main fatal injury was a stab wound in her stomach, but the knife was not on her. Judging from the shape, I could say it was any normal knife, stabbed straight in. She had lost a bit of blood already from the other wounds on her, but those were actually inflicted before death, and didn't do much damage."

"But, she still died, right?"

"Yes, and slowly too, by the look of it. I think we can assume the long blood trail was left by her in an effort to reach the hospital."

"Why not Oshima?"

"Oh, yes, him. He died pretty much instantly from what I can tell." Hiniwa paused a moment, picking at already dried blood under his nails. "His wound was more like a slicing motion I think. It cut open his left lung, and then punctured his heart."

"So that's what the file meant by 'vital organ failure'?" You ask.

"Probably, yes. If this were a natural death due to a heart attack, we wouldn't be having a murder trial."

[Hiniwa's Body Analysis has been added to the truth bullets]

You go back to investigating on your own, but something very quickly catches your eye. It's another silvery glint in the blood. You check it out before you forget.

It's another knife, not a switch blade, though. It's very different. It looks like a kitchen knife, you think. It's also very close to Oshima's right hand. It's a bit weird to have two weapons, but it could be important.

[Bloody Knives has been updated in the truth bullets]

"Are you looking at the blood?" Emmi asks. You didn't notice them approaching.

"No, it was something else," you say. "Why?"

"Oh, I just thought there was something important about the shape of the splatter." They say. You didn't notice anything that particularly stood out. It's good to have another set of eyes looking around, you decide.

"What did you think it meant?" You ask.

"Hmmm, well the overall shape. It's kind of elipse-y, don't you think?" They say. "I feel like, normally, if someone got stabbed, like Oshima did, from the front, the blood would only spray out in one direction, but here, it goes both ways."

"Wait, so something else happened here?" You ask.

"I would have thought that, anyways." They say. "Throughout the area, there's also smaller blood splatters. I think it's possible, that in these other spots, the small wounds were inflicted."

"Like a fight happened." You say.

"Exactly like that, yeah."

[Blood Splatter has been added to the truth bullets]

"Hey, one other thing, sorry for taking all of your time." They say.

"No, it's fine." You insist. "You're actually helping a lot."

"Thanks." They smile. "So, isn't it really weird that all the evidence is spread out so much?"

"It's weird that the carnival grounds are even so big." You reply.

"That's true as well," they say. "But that's not the point. The layout of the bodies, and the blood stains, maybe we should draw a map."

"Right, maybe," you pull a piece of scrap paper and pen out of your pocket.

"Do you always carry that with you?" They ask. "That's pretty smart. Ah, so anyways, you should mark where the bodies are, and the basic shape of the blood, and anything else you think is important."

You begin to sketch. Oshima's body was near to the haunted house and in the center of the giant bloodstain, while Odori's was down the path a little.

"Yeah, exactly like that." They say.

[Map of Area has been added to the truth bullets]

You wish good luck to Emmi, and go back to the area of Odori's body. Matsuda has woken up by now, and is chatting with Masuyo.

"Hey, Matsuda-san!" You call. "Are you alright? You won't faint again, right?"

"Again?" She questions. "I never fuckin' fainted in the first place. I just slipped and bumped my head a bit."

"Isn't that actually worse than fainting though?" Masuyo asks.

"Probably." Matsuda replies. "But I ain't afraid of a little damn blood, just unsettled by the whole murder shit."

"Right," you sigh. She seems alright, at least.

There doesn't seem to be any more to investigate as far as the murder case goes. Maybe trying to fix up your own wounds a bit before the trial would be a good idea. Your head is pounding. Everyone really doesn't look ready for a trial. Masuyo in a hospital gown with bandages covering her hands, Matsuda drenched in blood, you and Hiniwa are covered in bruises, and for god's sake Soushin isn't wearing any clothes.

So of course he would do that now. You didn't even have time to think about investigating for the spy.

"Ahem!" The voice from the speakers is even worse than usual. "Times up! No more investigation! Please make you way to the stage in the dining hall for the Class trial! And hurry up with it!"

You guess there's no time, then. You've got to go to the elevator now, and the walk feels long, but it's probably not. The elevator feels empty with only six people in it, but it most definitely is not. You feel nervous, like something bad is going to happen.

It probably is.

Time for the Class Trial.

END Chapter 4 Deadly Life

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who do you think the culprit is? What about the spy? Suspicions are very welcome in the comments.


	22. Chapter Four: Building the Road to Despair: Class Trial

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is really no excuse for this chapter being so late, and I cannot guarantee that the next chapter will be up on time either. Sorry I couldn't keep up with this "regular update schedule", but I'll still be trying my hardest. Thanks for putting up with me.

You should have expected the decorations, in fact, you did, but there aren't any to look at. Or maybe the simple walls, without anything but metal and wooden framework, are the decoration.

"So, do you like what I did for the aesthetic this time?" Monokuma asks. "Normally something like this would be saved for the very final trial, but I thought it would fit much better here! Don't worry, you aren't getting out any time soon!"

"What about the culprit?" Hiniwa asks. "Don't they get to leave if they end up deceiving all of us here?"

"Hmm, I guess so! But it wouldn't do them too much good!" He laughs. "Anyways, get in your places, I've got to explain the special rules of this trial, so let's get rolling!"

"That would be having to do with the spy, right?" Emmi asks.

"Exactamundo!" Monokuma exclaims. "You all already know the regular rules, vote for the right culprit, you win! Vote for the wrong one, you die! But for the spy, if you all vote for the right person, then no one will die because of that! But if you vote for the wrong person, both the spy and the person you vote for will be executed! How fun, right?"

"The extra person, it's so we don't purposefully vote them off," Masuyo whispers.

"Yup! Right again!" Monokuma laughs.

"Why wouldn't the spy just out themself then?" Masuyo asks, continuing. "What's the point of causing your own death, even if you're bringing someone down with you?"

"Someone obviously doesn't understand the true principles of despair!" He cackles. It sends shivers down your spine. "Is everyone ready for the trial then? Great, let's get going!"

"S-so Oshima died, huh," Matsuda says. "And Odori-san t-too, what a sh-shame."

"You never saw Oshima-kun's body, right, Matsuda-san?" Emmi asks. "Maybe we should start there."

"Yeah, what does 'vital organ failure' even mean?" Soushin asks, utilizing finger quotes. "Was the thing out of tune or something? He should have just called me, I've got lots of tuning forks!"

"I-I'm pretty sure even you know th-that 'organ' doesn't m-mean the instrument here." Matsuda says. "I'm j-just not sure how it c-could fail that it w-would still be considered a m-murder."

"In simple terms," Hiniwa says. "He was stabbed, and the knife went through both his lung, then his heart, actively making both of them 'fail' to continue working."

"H-how'd you find that out?" Matsuda asks.

"I was finally able to inspect the bodies myself now that that annoying Shibou wasn't in the way." He replies simply.

"I feel like I shouldn't ask why you did that." Masuyo says.

"Probably not." You agree.

"But, so then, the actual cause of death was that he was stabbed?" Soushin proposes. "Why wasn't that written in the file, then?"

"Monokuma was messing with us, I think." Emmi says. "Another worthless distraction from the actual case."

"I don't think it was completely worthless." Masuyo says. "Because making us investigate further helped us discover Odori-san's fatal wound as well."

"She was stabbed in the stomach." You say. "That's why she bled to death, the other wounds only made it happen quicker."

"P-probably why she died later th-than Oshima as well." Matsuda suggests. "No culprit would wait f-fifteen minutes just to kill another victim l-like that. They'd b-be off the scene already."

"Maybe not, if the spy is thinking in such a strange way as monokuma continues to suggest." Hiniwa says.

"Wait, what about the spy?" Soushin asks, seeming to snap out of deep thought. "Wasn't there something about them, like, the clues we were given about their identity or something?"

"There were only a few clues though." Emmi hums. "I can't tell if there's actually enough just there to find a culprit."

"Still, we should look at them anyways." Masuyo says. "I feel like it's important."

"True!" Soushin shouts overenthusiastically. "So, the first time monokuma mentioned the spy was when we didn't want to explore the new area, right?"

"M-maybe there was something c-connected to their identity there?" Matsuda suggests.

"No, I don't think so." Masuyo says. "Other than the student file motives, which the murderer might have been going for."

"Then, what about when monokuma gave us some hints to the appearance of the spy?" Hiniwa asks.

"Yeah, that's probably our best lead." You say.

"Does anyone actually remember what he said though?" Soushin asks. "I sure as hell don't."

"The spy was described as tall, having dark eyes and brown hair." Masuyo says. "I remember, because I was with Oshima-kun at the time. He started freaking out, because he thought it sounded like him."

"Huh, that's weird." Emmi says. "Odori-san responded in a similar way, albeit more suited to her general demeanor. She denied being bothered by it afterwards."

"Doesn't that make one person really suspicious?" Soushin asks. "If both those two are dead, then,"

"What? Get to the damned point." Matsuda snaps. "Who the hell are you talking about?"

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Soushin says. You feel like you should be getting this, but Masuyo interrupts your thoughts which were attempting to.

"Hiniwa Masanori." She says. "You're the only one who fits the description who is still alive."

"What?" Hiniwa asks, confusions maybe a bit too obvious. "But I'm not, that can't be-"

"Monokuma all but admitted that the spy didn't know who they were a few days ago." Masuyo continues. "And, I really am sorry to reveal your secret, but didn't you tell me your memory was foggy?"

"Not to mention I would never threaten the life of someone who was already dead!" Monokuma says. "Whoops, you've been backed into a corner, any defense?"

"I'm not the spy." Hiniwa panics. "I'm not, I can't be, I haven't spent any time talking to some mastermind person, I swear."

"Like I'd need the spy to talk to me in order to feed me information!" Monokuma laughs. "You all really are funny sometimes!"

"But, I never, I can't, I just can't be the spy." Hiniwa insists. "I would never agree to do that, why would I..."

"Look at that!" Soushin laughs. "He's totally in denial!"

" _You_ would be the type to laugh at an existential crisis." Matsuda sneers.

"Shut up!" Hiniwa shouts. "Just, be quiet already! I'm not the spy, monokuma's got to be lying about something to trick us, or something."

"Then prove it's not you." Emmi says. "Surely you have reason to not doubt yourself, if you're so insistent."

"I can't prove it," he says quietly. "Why can't you just believe me on this?"

"Let's leave it for now." You say despite yourself. "Incapacitating someone who knows most of the evidence won't help us solve the actual murder here. Let him sort it out himself."

"Then, the murderer, right?" Soushin asks. "We're looking for clues on that now?"

"Whether he's the spy or not, H-Hiniwa-kun still seems p-pretty suspicious." Matsuda mumbles. "The three suspects f-fought to the death, and only one s-survived, it makes sense. It w-would even explain all of those b-bruises."

"That's true, but if we're going off of injuries, Hiniwa's are fairly minor in comparison to someone else here." Emmi says. "With all the signs of conflict at the scene you'd expect more than a cut up lip."

"What are you trying to say?" Masuyo jumps to your defense faster than you can. "Because I swear, if it's what I think it is-"

"What, you don't think Ajiyama-kun could have done it?" Emmi asks. "He's got a black eye for goodness sakes, if that's not suspicious, I don't know what is. If you are trying to clear the name of either him or Hiniwa-kun, then you've got to have more solid proof."

"But-" Masuyo is lost for words now.

You swallow your pride to save your life.

"No, Emmi, that's not right." You say. "Hiniwa and I both have alibis for the murder. He was fighting me at the time."

"H-huh?" Matsuda gasps.

"Wait, are you sure what you were doing was fighting?" Soushin asks. "It wasn't something else?"

"We're both sure." Hiniwa says. "It's not really your business anyways. You should stop being so protective of something that isn't yours."

"Shots fired!" Monokuma shouts. Everybody seems to just ignore him.

"W-wait, are we really d-down to alibis on th-this to f-figure out who did it?" Matsuda asks.

"Don't be so upset about it, Matsuda-san!" Soushin says. "If that's true, then you have an alibi too! The murderer is even clearer than before!"

"There's no way you found it out just with one realization like that." Emmi says.

"Yup, sure did!" Soushin continues. "It's super easy if you take into account our bathhouse visit this morning! Only one person here doesn't have an alibi!"

 _Only one person?_ you think.  _I guess that's true, but it can't be her..._

"Masuyo," you say. "You couldn't have done it, right?"

"Wait, me?" She asks. "What makes you think it was me?"

"Everyone else seems to have verifiably been somewhere at the time of the crime." Emmi says. "Soushin, Matsuda-san, and I were in the bathhouse, apparently Hiniwa and Ajiyama-kun were having their own confrontation, and if Oshima-kun and Odori-san are dead, that only leaves you. There's blood on your hands, Ajiyama-chan."

"There's blood on my hands because I tripped and used them to break my fall." Masuyo says. "I was asleep in the infirmary, I didn't even know there was a murder until I woke up and monokuma told me."

"But, since all five of us have a  _real_ alibi, there's no defending that you could have easily lied about being asleep." Soushin says. "You're the only one who could have done it, so it must have been you."

"No, that's not exactly right." You say. "There's two more people that we've not been considering. Three, if you include the mastermind, but I doubt they'd show themselves just for an uncoordinated case like this."

"Oh! You think it could have been me?" monokuma pouts. "No fair, I thought I was out of the rankings!"

"It could have been you, but I just said I didn't think it was." You say. "The killer, is one of the victims."

Silence befalls the courtroom.

A familiar voice breaks it.

"What if you're just protecting Masuyo, though?" Soushin asks. "There's no reason to believe the culprit isn't alive and here with us."

"But there is that one suspicious thing." Emmi says. "You might not have noticed it, but it's pretty important, right?"

"Wh-what are you t-talking about?" Matsuda asks.

"The body announcements." You explain. "When Odori's body was found, the announcement only played once three people showed up, but when Emmi and Soushin found Oshima's body, it only needed two people. And if I'm right, that means the culprit saw Oshima die, but not Odori. That is, unless monokuma was slacking on the announcement."

"I wouldn't dare!" Monokuma cries.

"Couldn't Matsuda-san just have seen the other body before she passed out?" Soushin asks. "Maybe those glasses give her super good vision or something?"

"That's just silly." Masuyo says.

"Still, can't refute her having seen it!" Soushin insists.

"Nobody could have seen both bodies at once." You say. "The arrangement of the bodies made that impossible. There was a sharp turn between the forest path and the carnival ground entrance. I don't think any of us remember seeing Oshima first either, right Matsuda?"

"No, I d-didn't." Matsuda says. "C-couldn't you have j-just asked me in the f-first place?"

"Besides," you continue. "If both of the bodies had been seen at the same time, the announcements would have played consecutively. There was a distinct separation."

"Sorry, but I still don't see the relevance." Hiniwa says. He's shaking a bit, you notice, but he's trying to stay collected. "Couldn't the culprit just have seen Oshima die, and left in the fifteen minutes before Odori followed him?"

"I doubt a culprit would let her bleed to death if she might have survived and told everyone." Masuyo says. "An instant death would have made it easier to manipulate the crime scene and clear your name."

"Spoken like a true criminal!" Matsuda shouts. "Are you absolutely fucking sure you were asleep?"

"Wait," Emmi says. "I just realized, doesn't the announcement problem make Matsuda just as suspicious as Masuyo?"

"Wh-what?!"

"If you didn't need to be there for the second announcement to play, you might have seen it before, as in, when it happened." They say.

"B-but I have an alibi!" Matsuda shouts.

"So do I," Masuyo says. "And I don't appreciate it being doubted."

"Can we get back on track?" Soushin asks. "I thought we were getting somewhere cool with the whole 'the culprit is dead' thing."

"Are we seriously doing this again?" Monokuma sighs. "I'm getting déjà vu from the second chapter."

"You said it yourself, though, didn't you?" Masuyo says. "That the culprit couldn't receive the prize you offered for the murder. Why was that again?"

"Ah, that's um..." the bear trails off.

"I thought so." You say. "So the culprit  _is_ one of the victims."

"That's where you're wrong." Hiniwa interrupts. "You should know why that isn't true."

"What?" Soushin cries in distress. "I thought we had just confirmed that the culprit is already dead, not disproved it."

"The culprit being dead isn't the issue." Hiniwa says. "It's that you all think it was just one person. You should have learned last chapter about that assumption."

"What?" Matsuda shouts. "That's fucking near impossible! Two culprits who both kicked the damned bucket before monokuma got the chance? No way!"

"It's not out of the realm of possibility, though." Emmi agrees. "With the last trial having been the way it was, there's no telling."

"But is there anything other than speculation to it?" Masuyo asks. "It is a bit out of the box."

"No, there is something." You say. "The weapons found at the crime scene, why would the culprit need two knives? Especially if both of the victims were only stabbed."

"Whoa! Slow down!" Soushin says. "There were two knives? I didn't even hear about one!"

"That's because they were lying half submerged in the blood trail." You explain. "They were completely covered in it, so they'd be hard to spot."

"And you touched all of that blood?" Soushin asks. "Absolutely disgusting."

"That's right, though." Masuyo says. "Why would one culprit leave twice the evidence?"

"Not only that," Hiniwa says. "But the two knives were in suspicious locations as well."

"One of them, a kitchen knife, was by Oshima's side, suspiciously near his hand." You say. "Almost as if he dropped it there when he died."

"And the other one?" Emmi asks.

"It was a ways down the blood trail between the two bodies." You say. "A switchblade."

"What does that mean, though?" Masuyo asks.

"You said it yourself, right?" You say. "Oshima-kun and Odori-san were suspicious, not only of themselves, but of each other. They had plenty reason to fall to monokuma's motive."

"If you're saying what I think you are, then I don't want to believe it." She shouts. "Every time we go through the trial we end up doubting each other! And now you're trying to say that they killed each other? I don't want to lose trust in anyone like that!"

"Anyone who doesn't move forward will die." Emmi says. "There's no one here who wouldn't want to protect you, but-"

"Odori-san said the exact same thing!" Masuyo screams, tears suddenly welling up at the edges of her eyes. "And here we are, because she  _lied_ , and because she doubted. Show me the proof. Show me the proof that somebody didn't set it up to look like they killed each other! I won't believe it! I won't! I won't! I won't! What's the point of surviving the trial if it will just result in more murders? I won't let it happen! I swear! Odori and Oshima never actually met up at the carnival grounds of their own volition! They were lured there by the true culprit!"

"Sorry, Mausyo," you say. "But you're actually right."

"Huh? Aren't you supposed to refute me?" She asks.

"Well I would, but you're right about the culprit drawing them there, in fact, Emmi intercepted a conversation between the two of them asking to meet." You say. "They both invited each other there in order to settle the deal of the spy by talking it out, but, judging by all the signs of conflict, I guess that only lasted until the first punch."

"But, why?" Masuyo says, her obviously sad voice just above a whisper.

"Everyone is affected by different motives." Monokuma jeers. "And not everyone can have so much faith in so called 'friends'. Too bad they both failed when they tried to kil the spy!"

"Wait, what?" Hiniwa says as soon as monokuma finishes the sentence. It basically summarizes the thoughts of everyone in the courtroom, you think.

"Oopsie! Did I give you all the answer? And after you worked so hard to put it off!" Monokuma laughs, and he's laughing at all of you, you know it. "Anyways, can we start the vote already? I'm getting super bored!"

"Can we really just vote like this?" Emmi asks.

"We don't really have a choice." You say. "Not voting won't get us anywhere, and the killers seem obvious enough without reinforcement."

"No," Masuyo says. "We have to go over this anyways. Monokuma can wait a few minutes."

~

<Closing Argument>

A few days ago, when monokuma revealed the motive, which was a description of a spy hiding among us and the opportunity to find out who it was, two people were struck by the description matching their own appearance. At some point, they each probably designed a plan to kill the person who seemed most suspicious to them.

Then, probably sometime last night, they each set their own plan into motion. A conversation using the texting application on the eHandbooks was spurred, which led to a meeting the next morning. Each of them came with a weapon and an intent for murder.

The two met up at the carnival grounds, and probably tried for a conversation, but it didn't last long. A fight broke out, leading to blood on the ground.

At the very climax of the fight, the two were facing each other in the general center of the area. Each of them pulled out their weapon and used it. The first two die of the two was slashed by a switchblade, cutting open their heart and lung and killing them instantly. The second, however, was stabbed in the stomach, which caused them not to die, but only be weakened. They saw the other body, and it was counted for the announcement.

Realizing they did not have much time to live, the second culprit started making their way to the hospital, dropping the switchblade in hand along the way, and eventually collapsing from blood loss in the middle of forest path three.

Shortly after this, Emmi was looking through messages sent on the text app, and noticed the conversation. They rushed to try and stop anything from happening, Matsuda and Soushin following, but it was too late.

The fight had ended in the mutual killing of Odori Ayumi and Oshima Yutaka.

~

"Right, so that's that." Soushin says. The vote begins.

Six sets of buttons are selected three times, and the sound to denote victory rings three times in response. Nearly everyone is expressing displeasure of some form, when Masuyo speaks up.

"If anything, we all get to live, right?" She says. The room falls silent at the sound of a laugh.

"Upupupu! What makes you so sure of that?" Monokuma asks. "I've still got an execution planned for everyone's favorite troublemaker!"

"You, don't mean me, right?" Hiniwa asks tentatively.

"Of course not!" Monokuma says. "I wouldn't dare go back on my word that the spy would survive if you guessed right!"

"Who are you talking about then?" Emmi asks. "Why do you insist on doing this?"

"It's funny  _you_ should ask." Monokuma jeers. "I don't allow breaking of my rules you know, and you've been stomping all over them from the moment you showed up!"

"I don't quite understand." They say.

"Picking locks! Sleeping outside the cabins! Hacking the eHandbook system!" Monokuma shouts, rattling off a few examples. "Your very existence is a destruction of my property even if it  _was_ scrap metal! I'd say it's about time I got rid of you!"

"But Emmi isn't even a student." Soushin says. "The rules shouldn't apply to them."

"Even more reason to kill them!" Monokuma says. "I never said people other than the selected students were allowed here!"

"You c-can't kill Emmi." Matsuda says.

"Who's going to stop me?"

The screen buzzes on as monokuma drags Emmi away, without so much as a formal introduction to the execution.

~

{Sweat Shop Disassembly Line}

The camera slowly zooms down a conveyor belt in the opposite direction from how it is moving. It jolts, moving over, around, under all sorts of pieces of scrap metal and the different saws and drills mauling every piece, until it reaches Emmi, tied up tightly in wires and unable to move.

The belt starts up quicker, now at a noticeable pace. Pieces ahead of Emmi on the line get cut apart like butter by the first machine, a set of circular saws swinging back and forth like pendulums on an old clock. Sparks fly from the friction. One of them flies and hits Emmi on the cheek, leaving a small mark. They grow closer to the machine by the second.

The screen blinks out the very second that Emmi reaches the saws. A collective gasp scrambles about the court room. A few people hold their breath in anticipation. The image blinks back in, showing Emmi coming out on the other side, and the wire chain breaking clean and falling away. Emmi starts to get up and move with a shocked expression. Nothing tries to stop her.

Oh, except for the drills.

Each piece which has finished passing through the area has ended up looking like swiss cheese, with the swirling spears stabbing at whatever they can reach, Emmi about to be included.

They take a stance, like someone about to do a pole vault or a risky jump, except instead, they dodge every drill, ducking down and out of the way just as it stabs out, weaving around the collection of conical corkscrews. Emmi dodges all of them.

All except for one.

It hits them in the chest, from behind, one of the last ones that comes out of the wall. If Emmi were human, they wouldn't survive that.

But Emmi's not.

They keep moving, shaking hands reaching to shove displaced wires back where they belong. Narrowly avoiding death, Emmi moves to jump off of the conveyor belt in order to escape the death trap to safety, but a spiked fence made mostly out of woven barbed wire jets out of the ground. There's no escape.

The next machine takes up the full width of the area, it's more like a series of contraptions jointed together into a device used solely to imply pure terror. The entrance is like a rolling pin, covered in spikes, and threatening to flatten and pierce and tear apart anything that goes near it.

The only thing that seems to be coming out of the other end are little cubes of metal squashed together. There's no telling what actually goes on inside.

A considerable stretch does on before it though, giving Emmi a bit of time to pause and think about the situation so they could make a plan of action. Nearly to the machine, they begin to run.

There's a certain thrill to it, watching them run, but also some redundancy. How often has this scene been used before, and how often will it be used in the future?

Still, they run.

A grinding noise sounds as the scraps before them and the scraps they've jumped over enter the machine. The belt clears itself of every piece that Emmi has evaded, and now appears empty. It seems to be an eternal standstill when the speed picks up. Emmi rushes to meet the pace, and this pattern continues a while, until

A gap in the belt trips them, and they fall, a blur, into the machine as the belt slows back down to a crawl.

A small pile of cubes tumbles out the back end. A little yellow eye-shaped light bulb flickers off in the one on top.

~

Emiline's stand falls to the ground with a clatter that fills the room.

"Why," Masuyo mumbles. "Why are you doing this?"

"Haven't I told you before?" Monokuma mocks. The sound is deafeningly loud. "All of this, it's all just paving the road for true despair."

No one says anything else.

The elevator is far too slow going up.

END Chapter 4

You received item, mechanical flower bow.

5 students remain.


	23. Chapter Five: No Time Left: Daily Life- Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at that! What could it be? It's an update!

Never before had my state of being seemed so dream-like. I kept waking up halfway and feeling unable to get back to sleep. I rolled over to a different side for what must have been at least the tenth time that night. I had lost track.

"There's only five left." The words echoed in my minds.

I rolled back to face the ceiling. It was dark. I couldn't make out any details. I listened to the sound of my own breathing and closed my eyes tight.

I woke up again at the morning announcement. There was an awful crick in my neck. Tsuneo had already left. I wondered briefly where he had gone.

There was a buzzing noise in my ear, wait, no, more like ringing. The doorbell was ringing. I dredged out of bed and to the door. I opened the door to find an irritated Soushin repeatedly jamming her finger into the doorbell and looking about ready to start shouting, until she noticed me standing there where the door would have been.

"Oh, it's just you then?" She asked. "Do you know where Tsuneo-chi is?"

"I literally just woke up." I said. "And he's not here, I think."

I then proceeded to slam the door in her face. It was too early for this shit.

The bathroom door opened behind me tentatively. I hadn't noticed it was closed.

"Is she gone?" Tsuneo asked. It was very uncharacteristic of him.

"Yeah, I think so." I said. "Why? Were you hiding from her or something? You shouldn't be so intimidated."

"It's not that." He said. "It's just, she just keeps bothering me with questions I don't even understand, about topics I'm not sure she understands."

"Are you sure it's nothing important this time?" I asked. "She could've had something new in the time between then and now."

"It's possible, but I don't think it's likely." He said. "Look, I've been up worried all night, I could use some sleep, don't wait up, right."

"I'm gonna leave." I said. Then I did, without warning.

There must have been some subconscious ritual engraved in my mind by now that every time we had a trial I would visit the graveyard. There had been a reason before, exploring a new area, going with friends, boredom. Now I guess it was for myself. I needed to do this. I followed that ambition, and made my way for what seemed to be the millionth time down forest path 1, stopping only to get a pink rose for Miyano's grave and a single green lily for Kawada, to tell her what had happened, if she hadn't already known.

There was no new grave for Emmi, not even fresh markings on Emiline's gravestone. They had never been a student, never been one of us. Never planned. This solidified that.

I didn't know how to pray at a grave, I thought, but I placed the green lily down and hoped that my thoughts would reach her, that she would hear the reason that there would be no more lilies. Doing this felt ridiculous.

Talking to Miyano was easier. I told her what had happened since she had died, and that I hoped things were alright for her and that I missed her. It was all so much more comfortable.

And then I talked to Odori and Oshima.

"大鳥あゆみ

~~===== - =====~~

It does not matter how slow you go, so long as you do not stop."

I never understood Odori, how she worked, why she tried so hard and never showed any signs of enjoyment, and that thing she had said to me.

"There is no one here who wouldn't want to protect you."

I swear I heard the words out loud. That lie, which she told before she threw us into the class trial. Maybe she had been trying to protect us with those actions, but the way she did it was uncharacteristically reckless. Odori never seemed the type to jump without thinking, but maybe I'd read her all wrong. Everyone seemed different from how I had known them at first.

"大島裕

~~ ===== - ===== ~~

~~~~Light without darkness would lose any meaning, as would life without death, or happy times without grief."

Oshima had at least been honest to me. I respected that. It didn't help much to think that he had an instant death. I didn't want any of them to suffer anyways. I didn't know what I was thinking.

The graveyard looked overfull now, with thirteen of eighteen plots taken up, but I hoped it would stay that way. Apologies to the funeral director, I guess everyone has to make a living, but I didn't want any more deaths.

The five spots left with scattered through the area. There were two adjacent on the farthest row from the gate, one between the two for Matsuda's relatives, I supposed that was for her, another to the right of those three plots, and then one on the outer edge of the middle row, next to Keina's.

Counting them didn't make the number any different, I decided.

And I left, planning hopefully to not visit again. I went to the dining hall and ate a simple breakfast, lingering for a while afterwards. I could have sworn more people should have been there, the place felt empty. Not even all of the five of us left came for breakfast. Hiniwa passed through, and Soushin as well, briefly. Matsuda stayed a while longer.

"Ajiyama?" She said, to get my attention.

"Yeah?" I answered. I was putting dishes in the kitchen to wash later.

"C-can you do me a f-favor?" She asked. "I'd h-hate to be a w-waste of your t-time, but"

"It's fine." I said. "What was it you needed, Matsuda?"

"New areas m-must've opened up, r-right? And I wanted t-to go, but," she paused, taking a breath to resteady herself. "I d-didn't want to go alone, s-so I thought everyone w-would come to b-breakfast, and we c-could go in a b-big group like last time, but n-no one showed up, and I know it's a b-bit suspicious to be asking you to g-go somewhere alone, b-but,"

"It's really fine." I interrupted. "I'll go with you, but just in case, we can bring a third person, alright?"

"Oh, yeah, th-that's good." She sighed, the whispered something quickly. "I actually wanted to talk alone about something, but um"

"Afterwards."

"Okay."

She left with me, and almost immediately, we caught Hiniwa loitering around outside.

"Hiniwa-kun?" I called.

"What." He tensed up at the sound of someone speaking to him. Matsuda answered him for me.

"We w-were just going to g-go and look at the new a-area in c-case anything useful is th-there." She said.

"And you were planning to go alone?" He asked, finally turning around to face the two of us.

"That's the thing actually," I said. "We were hoping you might come with us. Safety in numbers and all that."

"Are you sure you want to ask me to come with you?" He asked. "I was only just found out as the spy, you know. Wouldn't that be more dangerous than going alone? You don't know what I could try."

"A-are you s-seriously trying to g-get us to not trust you?" Matsuda asked. "If we w-were asking th-that means that we t-trust you not to try anything. D-do you want to ch-change that assumption." That seemed to shut Hiniwa up somehow.

"Right then, we should get going." I said, closing the gap of an awkward silence before it could get too bad. Hiniwa still seemed mad at me for some reason. I wasn't sure why, but the tension in the air decided for me that I had chosen the worst possible travel partners.

We briefly tried to explore any new floors in the main building, only to find that there was nothing new accessible. Although the stairs were unshuttered, they were still locked behind that glass wall with no door handle. The Archive still had a gun pointed at the keypad, and we deemed the challenge still not worth it, even after monokuma popped up and told us the other two rewards were still available.

So we went to the other new place, forest path 4. There was nothing else after this as far as we knew. The final gate was open.

The air seemed to freeze around us as we entered. It wasn't that the place itself was especially disconcerting, but the finality of being here,

I got a bad vibe from it.

The trees seemed grayer here, sadder maybe, but it set me off. All the other paths were cleaner and greener, but this one was long and winding and unwelcoming. I wanted to leave right away, but I couldn't just abandon Matsuda and Hiniwa so suddenly like that.

We continued walking down the path.

The first thing we came upon was a rather average looking building. It was of average height, maybe two floors, maybe just one with a high ceiling. The roof was the kind you'd expect from a picture of a house that a kid would draw. It was split down the middle, making a triangle that sat on top of the rectangle of the main building. There was a small circular window centered there. A small flagpole hung next to the door, with a flag displaying the name of the establishment hanging from it.

"Monomono Recording Studio."

It didn't look worth exploring at the time, so we ignored it. It seemed so out of place, and all because it was so average looking. It was reverse logic if anything was. There had almost been no point in making it look so inconspicuous in the first place.

The path continued for a while after that.

I must have been truly desensitized by then, because I was not surprised or even bothered by what I saw I'm pretty sure. I almost, expected it.

It was a junkyard.

A large plot with a fenced-in conveyor belt running the length through the middle. All kinds of things were set up in piles here, slowly entering the belt and compressing into a mountain of useless cubes.

It smelled really bad.

There was no point in staying there, I thought, and no point talking about it either. Matsuda and Hiniwa must have thought the same, because all three of us moved on without a word.

I didn't think Emmi would have minded.

The path still felt strange, but the longer I walked down it, the more normal it seemed. I longed for the bright greens of the rest of the forest.

The trees also seemed to be thinning out, still too thick to get through, but I was hopeful. I tried to start up a conversation.

"Not really anything interesting so far, huh?" I said.

"L-like that's m-my fault." Matsuda said. "W-who could have h-had the foresight to have known th-that?"

"No, I wasn't blaming you at all." I insisted. "It's just bad luck, right?"

"You seem to have a talent for attracting such luck." Hiniwa said. "Really, I don't see why anyone sticks around you when it seems that everyone who does ends up dead."

"Maybe I should talk to you more often then." I said casually. "You don't have to be so rude all the time."

"I'm only trying to live up to everyone's expectations." He said. "It's what a spy is supposed to do, right?"

"And who exactly is expecting you to do that? Being told you're some 'spy' by monokuma is no excuse to start acting like such a jerk." That's what I tried to say at least, but I ran into a wall about halfway through. A large gray wall which was part of a perfectly rectangular building. This was a side wall, there were no doors here, not to mention nothing to stop Matsuda from breaking out laughing at me.

A narrow path led around the building, which we followed, to reach the front.

"Really, running straight into a wall. Do you need any more proof that you're bad luck?" Hiniwa asked. Matsuda snickered a bit before speaking.

"Y-you guys sh-should probably stop f-fighting." She said. Hiniwa quieted down a bit and stared at her. "W-we might've f-found something actually i-important here."

"I find that doubtful." Hiniwa quipped.

"You go ahead then, while we investigate here." I suggested. "If you're so insistent that I'll get in the way, then go ahead and do what you need to do without me interfering."

"Tch, at the very least it'll be more interesting than sitting around here waiting for you to figure the simplest of things out." Hiniwa waved a hand over his shoulder as he turned around and left down the path around the building. I was so mad I could feel my face heating up.

"I-I, you know, um," Matsuda stuttered. "I th-think I'm gonna g-go ahead too.  N-not for any p-particular reason o-or anything, um, I-"

"It's fine, Matsuda." I said. "Just go."

She nodded and started rushing down the path to catch up with Hiniwa. A few minutes after I had seen her gone, I started at what I thought a reasonable pace, around the great cinder block of a building, until I found the doors. They looked ridiculous, metal plated, and impenetrable. A quick pull on the handle revealed that the door was very locked, but there was no way to open it that was visible from here.

There were no other features to the building. Dark grey walls on all four sides, with only the slightly lighter dray doors to stand out. If there were anything on the roof that was interesting I couldn't reach. I regretted staying behind, but I didn't want to admit defeat and catch up with the others. Hiniwa would jump straight back on the insults, and despite a tough exterior, they did hurt. I slumped against the wall next to the door, crossing my arms on top of my folded knees and resting my chin on them.

Until I heard a shriek.

I lifted my head a bit and contemplated moving. It hadn't been in fear, rather, it sounded excited and happy. It was short, but it called my attention. I thought it sounded like Matsuda.

I stood up and started at a more brisk pace down the path. The length between the Locked Building's clearing and this next one seemed much longer than any I had encountered before, and I was pretty sure it wasn't just the suspense. It was winding, and I met Matsuda a while down it; she was running the opposite way, and panting, out of breath.

"Ajiyama-san, th-th-there's, y-you've g-got to," She spoke briefly between short breaths.

"It's okay," I said. "Try to catch your breath, and then you can tell me what's up."

"But it's really important!" She exclaimed in a snapshot of clarity. "Y-you're, y-you've, you've got to s-see th-this!"

I guess I understood her urgency, as when she started running again back the other way, I followed her. The second part of the path only went faster because we were running.

The path opened into the clearing quickly and broadly. The area was huge, and opposite the opening of the path, there was a huge rounded door. There was nothing I could see beyond it, but freedom.

"Whoa!" I couldn't help but gasp and stare. "It's the door! Does this mean we can finally leave?"

"Not exactly." Hiniwa said. "There's no way to open the door without getting your head blasted off. Besides, I don't think it's the door itself that we should really be worried about."

"Huh?" Matsuda questioned. "I-is there s-something else you f-found while I w-was gone?"

"You probably found it too, just didn't take note of it." Hiniwa said. "Not the door, but the area around the door. It's the first time we've seen the edge of this place, or noticed it at least."

"The edge?" I asked. "Do you mean, is there some other way to get out that we missed?"

"No." Really, the more he spoke, the more disappointed I became. "But it tells us a lot more about our situation."

"So?!" Matsuda demanded. "Get to the damned point already! I'm tired of standing around!"

"I will, don't rush me." Hiniwa grumbled. "It's just, it's a rather disappointing truth."

"It's not like anything else you've said has been delightful." I said under my breath.

"Right, then." Hiniwa said. "Well, hmm, I'm not entirely sure how to put this."

"Get on with it!" Matsuda shouted. "We don't have all day to wait around for your pompous ass."

"This entire forest is contained within some kind of dome." Hiniwa spat out the sentence while recoiling a tiny bit. "It might just be glass, but it looks to be more advanced than that."

"I'm not sure what you're on, but I want some." Soushin said, and I jumped at her sudden appearance, even more than I had at Hiniwa's confusing bombshell. "Oh, so you guys have been looking around the new area too? I can't believe you didn't invite me. Oh well, it's pretty boring anyways, right?"

"How can you find the idea of possible escape boring?" I asked.

"It's not escape, possible or probable, if we can't use the door." Soushin said. "A door that you can't use is just a decorative wall."

"That w-was surprisingly d-deep for you." Matsuda said.

"Well of course! Whoever told you I wasn't smart?" Soushin laughed. "No person of less than average intelligence could learn to play over fifty instruments before their fifteenth birthday."

"You don't have to brag about it." Hiniwa said.

"I think you're mistaken on that. I most definitely do have to brag." Soushin said. "Hey, weren't you going on about some nerd thing? Don't let me stop you."

"Well, you did interrupt." I pointed out. "And at what could have been a very crucial moment too."

"Hmm, I don't do crucial moments, no thanks. Too serious." Soushin said. "I get that it's important and all, but do you have to be sooooooo dramatic about it?"

"And how do you suggest I avoid being dramatic." Hiniwa asked. "I doubt you could be an expert on the subject, but you must have some idea of a thing you'd like me to do."

"Stop taking everything so seriously, that's all." She said. "We're gonna be fine, trust me, so you can stop worrying about escape and all that. It'll come naturally. The murders always stop when there's this many people left."

"I d-don't quite get it." Matsuda said. "But okay. I think we c-can relax a l-little bit. H-Hiniwa, wh-what were you saying b-before?"

"Wait wait wait." Soushin said, interrupting Hiniwa as soon as he opened his mouth. "You're actually asking him to explain something? You're going to trust him? How gullible do you have to be? He's the spy, he's not going to tell us anything but lies."

Hiniwa made an attempt to start speaking, but I cut him off before I knew what I was doing.

"What the hell, Soushin?" I asked. She looked shocked to even know I had the word in my vocabulary. "You can't do that! You can't act friendly to the rest of us and then shut Hiniwa up just because he's a 'spy'. Do you have any idea how rude that is?"

"You're only making  _yourself_ more suspicious by defending him." She said. "He's a spy, plain and simple, any action he does, anything he says, they're all probably controlled by the mastermind. We can't trust him. Do you really want to see yourself hurt?"

Odori's words, Emmi's, they echoed in the back of my mind again.

"There's no one here who wouldn't want to protect you."

Why was I so special, it made me sick.

"Hiniwa, please finish your explanation." I said. "It's up to us individually to decide whether we want to believe you or not."

"So I can actually continue now?" He asked tentatively. I nodded a bit. "Okay, well, the area around the door has some sort of wall, and it doesn't have any sort of visible line against the sky, so it's either a wall that goes up for miles, or what seems to me more likely, some kind of giant dome over the entire area."

"An interesting theory." Soushin relented. "Fine, I guess I'll mark it as correct for now. It seems right, anyways."

"W-What do you mean?" Matsuda stammers. "Y-you go all out a-against him and th-then you say he's r-right without any s-solid evidence?"

"Well it's not like I have any evidence to the contrary." Soushin said. "And it doesn't seem that important anyways. We were trapped by the trees before, now there's just a wall surrounding the trees. I don't think it matters enough to worry about it."

"That's quite the sudden change of character." I said. "But I guess you're right, regardless of the method of entrapment, we're still wholly and fully trapped."

"If you're so sure." Hiniwa said, casting a few doubtful or rude glances to the side instead of towards Soushin or myself.

"I am." Soushin said, ignoring his downcast mood. "Hey, so is there anything else? I think I'm done here." She yawned a bit.

"N-no, I don't th-think there's anything, b-but-" Soushin cut off Matsuda quickly.

"Good then! Later nerds!" Throwing a rushed peace sign, she turned and left the clearing, down the long path back to civilization.

"Then, th-that's that." Matsuda said. "W-what about you, Ajiyama-san? D-do you want to l-look anywhere else? I w-would come with you."

"No, I think I'm good." I said. "There's no really much else to look at, right?"

"I g-guess so." She sighed. "I wish there w-was, though, s-sorry for dragging you along with m-me."

"It's not an issue." I said. "I would have gone anyways, alright? And it's safer to travel in groups."

"A-alright." She smiled faintly. I started down the long path myself, alone, but I was alright with that.

I must have been walking faster than Soushin, because I caught up to her a ways down the path. She spoke first upon noticing me.

"Yo! Ajiyama-chan! You still haven't seen your brother, right?" She asked.

"I have, but he probably hasn't just been sitting around in the same spot since then." I said. It was only half a lie.

"Well, that's a shame, guess you're just about as interesting to hang out with anyways." She said. "So, what's up?"

"Ah, not much really." I said. "We just finished the investigation and all, and-"

"Nothing interesting, I know." She said. "Well, the recording studio is okay, but it's not like I can have any use of it, you know? I'm not so good at solos, and even if my band were here, the rooms are way too small."

"I guess that's true!" I laughed. "It's kinda funny to imagine you all trying to squeeze in around one mic, you'd blow each other’s ears out!"

"Yup! My thoughts exactly." She said, then paused a second in thought. "Say, Ajiyama-chan, do you like me?"

"Huh? Well of course, you're a nice person, why wouldn't I like you?" I asked. "Where did that come from?"

"Oh, well, I just get worried sometimes." She said. "A lot of people find me annoying but don't say anything, and I never know if someone is being genuinely nice to me, or if they're just dropping hints for me to go away that I can't seem to pick up."

"It's their loss." I said. "Sure, you've got your eccentricies, but everyone does, right? It's what makes us all different and interesting."

"That's not what I mean." Soushin said, almost yelling. "They call me an 'attention whore', and they're right. I love being at the center of attention with all eyes on me, and I'll do anything to get that spotlight. It's why I love being drum major. I almost pray that the girl who's supposed to be gets sick half of the time. I just insist on being a main character, it must bother so many people."

"That must be why you've made it this far though." I said. "In a serious detective manga someone who acts so silly would get killed off right away if they didn't stake their claim."

"Oh, but have you noticed?" She asked. "All the worth-while ones keep the joke characters around for comic relief. The situation can get pretty stifling if there's no one around to crack a joke."

"Maybe you just can't stand the good serious ones." I said. "Trust me, there's nothing wrong with wanting attention."

"You might be right." She sighed. "Hey, but you all need me around. Without me, everyone would get completely ruined at all the bad shit going on."

"We're sure to make it through this with your help." I said. "I know it."

"That's like your mantra or something, it's kinda cute." Soushin smiled. "I sure hope you're right though, I'd hate to lose anyone else."

Looking to change the subject without leaving an awkward lull in conversation, I asked the first thing that came to mind.

"Soushin, do you have any family?"

"Huh? Me?" She asked, confused. "Well I mean, I had my dads, and my band is always there for me."

"Wait, 'had' your dads?" I asked. "Like, past tense?"

"Yeah, I 'had' my two dads, but they're not around anymore okay?" She explained. I decided not to push it. "It's not a problem though, I've been fine on my own."

"Still, sorry it happened, whatever it was, and sorry I asked." I said. "But no one else? Not even a brother or sister?"

"It's funny actually." She said. "I had an older twin brother too at one point, but I haven't seen him since like my first birthday. His moms stopped talking to my dads after that for some reason."

"I'm sorry for bringing that up too then?" I sighed. "I've just about chosen the worst possible conversation topics."

"Not the absolute worst." She smiled. "You're not rattling on about how 'strong' I am for not letting a disability get in the way of my life." She puffed out her chest and did a funny voice as she said that, then laughed a bit. "I've had way too many people do that before."

"Right." I mumbled, followed by the awkward silence I had been dreading. We walked for a bit in it, but then I heard a small alarm coming from Soushin's pocket.

"Oh! That!" She said in realization. "Sorry, Ajiyama-chan, but I have to go! I'll talk to you about my marching band some other time okay?"

I nodded and

She kissed me.

It was a tiny peck, barely hitting anything other than my cheek, but it left me standing there, shocked. I wasn't entirely sure what had just happened, or if it had actually happened.

Soushin jogged off, waving back at me as she went.

I just stood there.

For quite a while.

END Part 1  
  



	24. Chapter Five: No Time Left: Daily Life- Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually got this kind of on time? Wow. Hopefully I'll be able to use this next week (Spring Break!) to catch up on writing and art and resume my schedule of weekly updates, if not an increased one at twice a week.

Shaking the afterimage of Soushin's kiss out of my head, I moved on, leaving forest path four. I went back to my cabin and settled down a bit. I'd be lying if I said the boring investigation hadn't tired me out. Tsuneo was still fast asleep in bed. He looked rather innocent like that, but I knew better than to think that. I tried to lay down myself for a little bit, but if I had dozed off, I was woken up by Tsuneo cursing loudly at the microwave.

"Is something wrong with it?" I asked, getting out of bed, still a little bit drowsy. "Because you know that it's not the microwave's fault if you don't know how to use it, right?"

"But it's too complicated!" He complained. "I was gonna heat myself up some food so I wouldn't have to wake you up, but I guess that's a moot point now."

"I'm not going to make you anything if you can't even bother learning how to use a microwave." I replied. "You'll never survive on your own if you can't feed yourself."

"Come on, Masuyo, I'll starve without you helping me." He whined. "At least tell me how to use it. I just can't make sense of it."

"You're not cute when you beg." I joked. "Fine though, it's really simple once you get the hang of it, I promise."

"Thank you, sis." He said, bowing slightly teasingly. "What will I ever do if you move out and I have to live on my own? How will I eat?"

"Fast food joints and cold canned soup." I said dryly. "Seriously though, you only need twelve buttons on the microwave. Once you learn those twelve, there's a whole lot more things you can buy to heat up."

"As if any of that would compare to your cooking." He sighed. "I guess I'll have to learn, alright then, what are these mystic twelve buttons?"

"Press the one that says cook time, then enter the time using the number pad, then hit start." I said. "Try not to burn the cabin down."

"I'm not that bad of a cook, am I?" He asked.

"You kind of are." I responded. "Look, I'll stay a while in case you need any help."

"That's really not necessary." He said.

"Maybe I just want to talk to you." I said. "You're not as boring as you think."

"Who said I thought I was boring?" He asked. "I'm probably the most interesting person here, I just can't remember it is all."

"I can remember you though." I said. "And I remember you being a huge dork."

"Hey! That's not very nice!"

I snickered.

"Don't you have better things to do than sit around watching me struggle trying to feed myself?" He asked after a while.

"Well, I could go ask your girlfriend why she kissed me." I said. It elicited less of a response than I expected.

"You mean Soushin?" He asked. "Yeah, she does that a lot. Platonic kisses, she told me about how it used to bother all of her band mates a few days ago. It's actually kinda cute, right?"

"I expected you to be more upset about something like that." I said.

"You're reading too much into things." He replied. "People sometimes don't have reasons behind what they do, they just do them. Habits, little things we do without thinking. You have a few of your own."

"Oh, do I?"

"Indeed."

"Care to enlighten me?"

The microwave beeped and Tsuneo took out a plate of hot noodles, gulping down a bite before speaking.

"You hum in the shower, it's distinctively not singing, but it's loud enough that I can hear it, you frequently snap and unsnap the buttons that keep your skirt pockets closed, you tap your pen in the same rhythm on your desk every time you write, and you always wait until exactly one centimeter is showing before you dye your roots."

"And you speak with your mouth full." I said as he slurped up another bite.

"Hey, I didn't say anything about your eating habits." He said. "I could go there if you really wanted me to."

"You really don't have to."

"If you're sure."

"I already find all these little details you know about me unsettling." I said. "When did you learn all of this?"

"During the sixteen years we grew up together." He replied. "What, did you think I wouldn't be paying attention to my own twin sister?"

"No, I just never really paid that much attention to you." I said. "Maybe that attentiveness is one of your habits."

"Now don't go turning the tables on me like that." He said. I laughed. We continued joking for a while like that. I left a bit after he finished his food.

Hiniwa was outside, but he bolted when he saw me. Matsuda was also there though, and she actually approached me as I walked out towards her.

"H-hey, A-Ajiyama-san," she mumbled. "About w-what we f-found earlier today,"

"What about it?" I asked.

"You're n-not worried at all th-that we're even m-more trapped th-than we originally thought?" She prompted. "What if the m-mastermind cuts off our a-air supply. O-oxygen c-could be l-limited! Minimize y-your air intake!"

"I think you're overreacting a bit." I said. "Regardless of some invisible glass ceiling, nothing's really changed. None of us could have flown out of here, and the trees were blocking our way. As for air, do you really think all of these plants are fake? They'll renew our oxygen just fine."

"It's s-still not enough to support  _f-five_ people." She said.

"We'll be fine, Matsuda-san."

"I'm not s-so s-sure I can b-believe you on that." She said. "I d-don't know why I'm s-still here. I sh-should be gone already. N-none of us should be t-trusted. Not that s-spy, Hiniwa, not e-either of you t-talentless liars, n-not even the p-preppy band b-bitch."

"I understand the whole kill or be killed mentality here." I said. "But aren't you being a bit harsh? With only five of us left, isn't that even more reason to trust one another?"

"It's not worth the w-wasted breath." She said. "Look I'll trust you once you give me proof that I can, but until then-"

"I'm sorry." I interjected. "Sorry for interrupting you of course, but also sorry for whatever must have happened to you before in order to make you so bitter. You can't just treat everyone like criminals when we've committed no crime."

"What about you then?" She asked. "Still t-treating Kawada, Otsuka, Keina, Oshima, all of them, so n-nicely in your memories. Do you r-realize what they d-did?"

"I realize perfectly fine." I answered. "They weren't the ones killing people, monokuma is."

"I _wish_ I could believe you."

Discomfort was held in the air between us. I wanted to trust Matsuda, but this wasn't a version of her I thought that I could. Had I only dreamed up the other one? I briefly remembered the promise I had made to her.

"Go to that blue room with me." I said.

"Are you fucking kidding me? That's goddamned suicide! How can I trust you won't go and kill me and hide my damn body where no one will find it until it's decayed to shit?!"

"I trust you not to kill me." I said calmly. That shut her up, if only a little.

"Fine then, tomorrow, at the nighttime announcement." She spoke in hushed tones, filled with disgust pointed at both me and herself. "Don't be late. We share the files we have with no one unless both of us agree."

"Right." I said.

We parted ways.

I headed towards the main building. I spotted Hiniwa again. He started running, but I caught up to him without raising my speed too much.

"Are you afraid of me?" I asked, with perhaps too much vigor.

"Afraid? No! Why would I be afraid of someone just casually running me down?" He asked sarcastically, then sighed. "Look, I just don't want to talk to anyone right now."

"If you really just didn't want to talk you could hide out in your cabin." I suggested. "So what's wrong? Are you looking for something?"

"What could there possibly be to be looking for?" He asked. "A secret exit somewhere? A flaw in the surface of the dome? Don't be ridiculous, the mastermind would never leave those unchecked."

"You're the one being ridiculous." I said. "What are you doing then, running around everywhere?"

"I'm trying to avoid interacting with anyone, okay?" He sighed. "You heard monokuma during the trial, right? I'm feeding whoever's in charge here information whether I'm consciously trying to or not. Even if I sulk at home, Matsuda will come back eventually."

"Maybe it's something as simple as a camera in your tie or shirt collar." I suggested. "You could easily ruin the scheme that way!"

"You don't think I've checked?" He asked. "If there _is_ anything, it's so small even a microscope can't find it. And if you're just trying to get me shirtless, you should reconsider, I'm not interested in girls."

"No that's okay, I'm ace actually." I said. "I was just trying to help somehow. It'd be fun to be able to mess with the mastermind for once, instead of the other way around."

"It's no use." He said. "The best thing I can do is just avoid everyone, don't you see?"

"You realize there are cameras, and microphones, everywhere, right?" I asked. "As long as we're in this place, monokuma is going to see everything you see anyways. Just from a different angle."

"Wait, you actually believe that?" He asked.

"Of course." I said. "I mean, as long as you aren't planning on doing anything vitally important in the bathhouse it shouldn't make a difference."

"I'm glad someone can be so positive about it." He said. "Still, isn't it weird to consider that someone could be hearing everything I hear or seeing everything I see? I'm not sure I can handle knowing that I'm the spy at all."

"I wouldn't consider you as a spy though." I said. "Since you've got no choice in the matter of whatever it is you're doing. You're not actually doing anything different in this situation from the rest of us."

"I still don't quite see how you can take it that way." He sighed. "Thanks, though."

I heard a noise and turned to see Tsuneo walking out from the path which led to the cabins. He immediately turned around and walked back the way he came upon seeing us. Suspicious. I turned back towards Hiniwa.

"Hey, Hiniwa-kun, tell me about yourself." I said.

"What do you mean?" He asked. He looked bewildered.

"I mean anything really." I replied. "Where did you grow up? What do you like to do for fun? Do you have any interesting close family members or friends? Stuff like that."

"I've already told you I don't remember much." He said, turning his head a bit to the side.

"Then what do you remember?" I asked, perhaps prodding too much. "Besides vague feelings and such, you've got to remember something, right?"

"I remember my bedroom." He said. I listened closely. "The walls, they were a stark white, stifling almost. There was a table, and a lot of book shelves, and a bed of course. All of the furniture, everything, it was all that same shade of white. The bindings of the books, of course they couldn't have been specially printed, they added a pop of color to the room, and a few other things I had lying around."

"No offense but your bedroom sounds really boring." I laughed. He smiled a bit, but it didn't seem as interested. It was a distant look.

"I wasn't, ever allowed to mess it up." He said. "Any spills, games left open after I was done with them, if I didn't take care of them I was reprimanded. I don't remember by whom, but the voice always came from this one large window on one of the walls. There might have been a speaker underneath it. The view never changed." he let out a large sigh. "Look, why are you so interested in the first place? Don't you have better things to do?"

"No, not really." I said after thinking a bit. "There's not much to do, you see? And you are more interesting than you think."

"And you, then?" He asked. I didn't understand at first, he must have noticed the confused look on my face. "You must have some interesting story to tell or something in return. I can't be expected to just give out personal information without a fair trade."

"Oh, me?" I was still not quite sure. He nodded, as if to reinforce the message. "There isn't much to tell, I think. I went through school as a model student, I always did all of my work, but my parents were never around to tell me what was right or wrong, so I decided for myself. I never stopped working hard to get into a good high school, and I guess I did, because I'm here now, right?"

"That's oddly nonspecific." He said. "All it told me was that you're basically the model citizen that everyone's parents want them to be, which could easily be a lie. It doesn't help that it sounds like one."

"It's not a lie, I swear!" I said. "You should understand, right? I can't get anything specific beyond that. There are tiny bits of events there, but they're so broken I can't actually tell what's going on."

"Or you could be lying out of your ass." He said. I flinched.

"Why would I be lying about this?" I asked, trying my best to defend myself.

"Oh right, I guess your innocent character wouldn't think to protect your secrets that way." He said. "I've told you time and time again, not everyone can or should be as trusting about everything as you are. No matter what else may be going on her additionally, this is a murder game, and somebody is going to play it. No one is to be blamed if you wind up dead."

I

honestly didn't know how to respond to that.

Hiniwa left after a few minutes of listening to my silence, but I couldn't think of anything to stay, not to respond, not to stop him leaving, not anything. His words of distrust echoed in my head and I thought about my plans with Matsuda.

I couldn't let her down though. I had promised her to beat the blue room together, and a promise was a promise.

I cooked dinner in the kitchen. No one showed up, again. I brought the meal back to the cabin and ate while talking with Tsuneo. He had apparently just woken up. Things were getting back to how they used to be. I didn't actually mind much.

He left just as I decided to go to sleep.

END Day 1

Day 2

It was a beautiful morning. Birds chirped outside, sun shone through the windows onto my tired face as I sniffed the new smelling air.

I wished.

In reality, the air was muggy, and rain poured down in sheets, flooding small lake so that the circular path around it was a few feet thinner and wet like mud. Two umbrellas had mysteriously appeared right inside the door to the cabin. I took one. It was light green. It didn't help much. There were sharp winds, tilting the rain diagonal and under the thin plastic which protected me. I rushed to the main building. It was a shelter, at least. The library wasn't a place I'd usually like, but it seemed suited to today's weather. The windows blocked out just the right amount of the rain noise, and I could still watch the droplets trickling down.

I raided out the shelves in the fiction section for the entire collection of a few certain series, and dragged the comfiest chair I found over near the best window before plopping down to read.

Lightning and thunder crackled outside. I tried not to think about how that was happening under the dome.

The story I was reading was exciting, with tales of some sort of magic and a hero who had all sorts of girls fawning after him. It seemed clichéd though, and I welcomed the distraction of someone coming through the door.

It was Soushin. She didn't notice me at first, but seemed to be looking for something.

"Do you need any help?" I asked, approaching. She jumped at my sudden appearance.

"Ajiyama-chan! I didn't know you were here!" She said. "I'm sorry, I'll just leave. I didn't mean to interrupt you."

"No, you must have come here for a reason." I said. "What was it? I can help you look if you wanted a specific book or something."

"I was actually going to see if they had my favorite light novel series in Braille." She said, laughing a bit. "I'm sure it's not here though."

"Don't lose hope so easily, we can at least look, right?" I said. She brightened up a bit. "What was it about?"

"A music group of course," she replied. "I can't remember the name though, so there's really no point trying."

"If you're not going to bother trying then what was the point of coming here in the first place?" I asked. "If you really don't want to look I could read a different story to you."

"Hmmm, that's a possibility." She said. "But if I'm not going to read myself we might as well just talk."

"Alright then, what do you want to talk about?" I asked.

"Jeez, making me make all the decisions." She sighed. "Oh, but we got cut off yesterday, didn't we? I'll just continue there maybe?"

"That sounds alright, but, weren't we not actually talking about anything in particular at that point?"

"I guess that's true. I'm not helping much."

"Why don't you tell me about your band then," I suggested. "I've never been affiliated with a marching band, so I don't know that much."

"There's not much I could tell you without going into extreme detail." Soushin said, faking dejection. She failed at that though, and actually looked really excited. "But I appreciate your interest so much, I might just end up doing that anyways. Hmmm, where to start, though."

"Maybe from the beginning?" I said.

"Perfect!" She shouted, much too loud for a library in reality. "Alright, so, at first, in middle school, I didn't have many friends yet, but I loved music, so I joined concert band, but that was boring. It bothered me so much only being able to play one instrument, and not moving around at all. I was filled with excess energy, so I started a marching band. The school already had an amazing music program, so I was in full support, but a lot of students were skeptical at first. Eventually, it became really popular, despite the tough schedule and rigorous routines. Still, because of all of that, we became the very best, and here I am now, the Super High School Level Marching Band Member!"

"That's a touching story." I said. "But I really meant to ask what someone actually does in a marching band."

"Oh, that," Soushin said, a bit dejected for real this time. "My bad! Well then, normally someone like the director choreographs a routine and everyone learns the movements while developing it all better with small edits. Then we also learn the song and how to play it and memorize it, then we put them together and synchronize the beats to the steps. If the band is coordinated enough, you can make pictures for the audience to see."

"So your band must have been very coordinated." I said.

"Oh the most!" She replied. "We could make a functioning video game so that pixel characters moved when you pressed a button, with live battle animation and everything! It's almost like a hive mind situation, a little creepy if you think about it that way."

"That's a funny joke though."

"It's not a joke!" She said, laughing a bit despite her statement. "Our color guard members could juggle flags with each other without sparing a second glance to learn their relative locations. I don't know, maybe I am getting a little bit over excited, but I miss them a lot."

"We all miss someone." I said. "That's how monokuma got to Kawada-san after all, human connections."

"So what then? Do you think if I had liked my band more I might have gone for the kill?" She asked. "That's fucked up."

"You haven't seemed to be affected by any of the motives though." I said. "Not a secret, or the money, or even the possibility of a spy."

"I guess I'm just strong like that!" She boasted. "But really, my secret was embarrassing, but not enough to kill over."

"Oh, what was it then?"

"I'm not telling!" She blushed across to her ears. "Hey, you'd have to tell me if we traded, and you didn't look that well when you got it, so I'm not sure that's a good idea!"

"I guess you're right!" I laughed, but the mention of my secret unsettled me, so the laugh was awkward. I didn't talk much after that, and I went back to reading. Soushin must have left once she figured I was idly flipping through the pages.

I finished a volume of the awful story from before and decided I did not want to finish the series. I switched to reading a couple different series, one of which was about a really awkward girl who thought she would become popular in high school just because she had started high school. The second hand embarrassment was mortifying, but it was a fun series. I also checked out the magical girl series Shiroju had recommended me a while ago, and a few of the Shoujo mangas that Miyano liked.

I finished the bottom of a large stack of books in what seemed like no time at all. However, underneath those tales of cute girls in even cuter outfits and middle school crushes, there was something I hadn't put there myself. I hadn't remembered seeing it before at all.

The cover was black, the only color I'd ever kept my own notebooks in, I noted, and the pages were a bright white against it. It was spiral bound, obviously not an officially published book. Had someone left it here by accident?

Something written in silver print on the front caught my eye. It was my own name, written clear and precise in my own handwriting, but I never remembered writing it. My own notebook was still in my pocket, I felt it weighing down slightly on my leg. I picked this new one up off of the ground next to me, and a slip of paper fell out, along with a photo. I looked at the photo first, but just glancing at it froze me in time. I just hadn't been expecting it.

It was something like a school dance, or another formal event. Otsuka, Hensou, Kawada, and Oshima, all four of them danced in fanciful outfits suited for nobles. They were all smiling brightly.

I couldn't have been more distressed.

I hoped that the slip of paper would explain.

It did not.

It was a note, handwritten.

"Read the book. It will tell you how to beat the blue room. I've torn out all other content."

That was all it said.

I still felt frozen in place, staring at these two small papers, and the book which the note referred to.

END Part 2

 


	25. Chapter Five: No Time Left: Daily Life- Part 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for 2000 hits! Here's a special early bonus chapter just for that! Updates to hopefully start coming twice a week! Sorry that this chapter is short.

When I came to my senses I was still wary of the mysterious notebook, but I took it with me. I didn't want to read it quite yet, but if it held what it said, it would be useful.

I felt like I was planning a raid on some government institution. A spy, working to invade a foreign country during war time. A commoner planning to overthrow the monarchy.

That was enough metaphors for now.

Even though that really was what was happening.

I sprinted to the Blue Cabin through the storm, hoping to meet with Matsuda about this. I knocked heavily on the door. Matsuda opened it only a crack, then wider once she saw that it was me.

"W-what are you d-doing here so early?" She asked. I stood on the porch, getting pelted by fat rain drops. "You shouldn't b-be here at all! Th-this wasn't planned!"

"Can I come in?" I provided no explanation. "It's kinda, you know, raining. A lot."

"Y-yeah, f-fine." She sighed, letting me through. It was much warmer inside. A single red umbrella rested by the door. I set mine down next to it. Hiniwa must have been out.

"What are y-you doing h-here?" She asked again.

"I found something." I answered now. "It's a notebook, of some sort, and there was a note which fell out of it. It's supposed to contain instructions for the blue room."

"I-instructions don't mean a-anything until we actually f-find out the goal of the p-place." She said. "Looking at it n-now will just confuse u-us, so I d-don't want to."

"But Matsuda-san," I pleaded. "Come on, at least talk to me before we go. If we don't try to plan anything, if our plans are rushed, we'll get ourselves killed-"

"Do not try to warn me about the danger of death." She said. "I know I can die, I know a million ways I could die. An expulsion of poisonous gas due to motor failure, a spontaneous electrical surge exiting the system through a control panel, blood loss due to the removal of limbs in a freak accident, sabotage by a rival company in the form of a seemingly innocent gift, assassination by a foreign government hired sniper, mysterious disappearance only to wind up dead hanging from electrical wires a few days later. I have seen so many lost for so many reasons, and you dare try to warn  _me_?"

"Matsuda-san, I'm sorry, I didn't know, I-"

"Of course you wouldn't." She said, enunciating each syllable so that they had an even greater effect. "None of you have even tried to understand what I've been through. You just pushed me aside, marking me as some antisocial girl n-no one would want to talk to. I thought that going to Hope's Peak would help me forget all of the tragedy I've been surrounded with, but instead I winded up  _here_. What a cruel twist of fate, right?"

"Matsuda-san-"

"There is a reason I've made it so far. And it wasn't by trusting everyone, and believing in friendship and all that _shit_. I deserve to know what could have happened at the real Hope's Peak more than any of you, yet you still all shun me away."

"There must be some underlying cause for all of this." I said. "Please, if I can help in any way-"

"I don't need your pity!" She spat. "Save the book for once we're actually in the room, and save my precious time by leaving me alone."

I left, stunted for words and dejected. The rain still fell outside and I hadn't managed to grab by umbrella while exiting. I ran to the Green Cabin, and got completely drenched in only those few yards. I reached into my pocket to get my keys and realized that the photo had been soaked through as well as the book.

Also, my keys weren't actually there.

 _I must have left them somewhere_. I thought, almost kicking myself for it. Even if Tsuneo were home, he wouldn't hear me over the rain if I tried knocking. I panicked, taking the first option that came to mind.

I slammed the door to the Teal Cabin closed behind myself. I almost expected monokuma to show up right then and there and get mad at me for entering a cabin that wasn't mine without permission, but the door had been unlocked. That meant either monokuma had done it after she had died, or...

No, now was not the time to worry about that.

I emptied my pockets on the floor so my things could dry out. I feared it all would be confiscated, as most of this was contraband except for the capsules from the coin machine in the store. Still, monokuma did not come. I hadn't seen him since the trial, actually, except for in the pre recorded announcements. Maybe something was up.

It was dark. I fumbled around trying to find the light switch, but it wouldn't work even then. The power had been cut. I realized that day that anime wall scrolls can be very intimidating with the lights off.

The photos were laminated, it didn't take too long for them to dry, but the book was still damp whenever I checked back on it. I did not want to open it and ruin it being able to help Matsuda and me, but the pages would not dry out if they were cramped together like that.

I turned to a random page near the middle, to expose it to more air. The ink bled, but I still caught a glimpse of a word near the top.

"the victim"

Okay now that was suspicious. If this book was meant to help in the blue room then why was a victim mentioned. Curiosity got the best of me, and I started reading from that page.

"Follow this pattern:  
Chapter One: The culprit tries to kill someone. They are stopped, and the victim is the wrong person, someone important. The victim is stabbed."

This, these notes sounded familiar. My eyes strained against the low lighting to see if they deceived me.

If I equated "Chapter One" to the first trial, then,

Kawada tried to kill Odori, but Kaisui stopped her plan by showing up in Odori's place, but was he important? Maybe if I thought, that if he hadn't died, all the other motives wouldn't have worked the same way at least. He seemed like the kind of person who would have helped me after Otsuka's scene by calming Emiline down while I went to help Otsuka herself. With Odori dying instead, it would have stopped Shibou from using her to manipulate Keina, and then still without her the fourth trial couldn't have done anything similar.

Huh,

Maybe Kaisui was important.

I continued reading.

"Chapter Two: The culprit has killed someone before. There may or may not be a serial killer among the group, but one is referenced and heavily involved in the case, as their mark is left at the scene. The murder weapon is a blunt object."

Again, this almost fit, and it was getting creepier. I didn't like to think about Shiroju's cult involvement, but it fit. I guessed that bullets were blunt, just very, very fast. I almost didn't want to keep reading this.

But I did.

"Chapter Three: Two victims. The culprit has a second personality that they've been hiding under a calmer exterior which may involve paranoia or an intense desire to achieve something. Time of death is used to confuse people in their efforts to solve the case."

I remembered that we never actually learned Shibou's motive. We never broke him down like we did the others. I really didn't want to keep reading at this point, but it was compelling.

"Chapter Four: Someone dies protecting everyone else. The robot dies. Events surrounding the death involve attacks from various assailants with the ultimate cause of death being a suicide."

And still, everything written there held true. There had only been four trials so far here, if I continued reading, would it predict the future? Maybe I would be able to keep whatever it was from happening. That sounded like a good plan, but I didn't know if it was reasonable to try carrying out. It was worth reading to find out at least.

"Chapter Five: Spear of Gungnir is the cause of death, but other wounds are inflicted by a survival knife. Massive confusion over the cause of death. The entire trial is set up to frame a specific person as the culprit so that they will be executed."

There was, I couldn't prevent that. Nothing short of commandeering all the spears and all the survival knives in the place. Even then, someone could come to the place where I was guarding them and taken me.

I turned the page to see if there was any more information that could help me make sense of it.

I immediately regretted it. There, on that page, were three pictures. One of a blue haired girl, I recognized her from Shiroju's execution. There was her knife weapon, now with the tables turned, lodged in her stomach. It reminded me too much of Odori's death. Next to her was a fat blond person, under a table, with blood splatters everywhere, and a similar kitchen knife on the floor next to the body, covered in some greenish paint.

Below the two of them was a picture of Kaisui. From what I could tell, these were all "Chapter One" deaths. Maybe those other two people had been considered "important" at a point when they were still alive.

On the adjacent page, it wasn't any worse. There was a person in a skirt, strung up in a crucifix with the words "bloodstain fever" on the wall. Next to that picture was one of a redhead with a baseball bat and magical girl mask nearby. An again, below those two were Emiline and Otsuka. It wasn't pictured, but I remembered the little marks on the backs of their necks. The "Chapter Two" murders.

There were still more pages. I turned the page and sure enough,

Another overweight man and a guy with spiky black hair in a military uniform, both hit over the head with something laid on the ground there. The blood was still fresh.

A girl in a hospital gown, hung from stage lighting with a bag over her head, and a small girl in traditional dress with huge blonde pigtails held to a pillar with probably more than one roll of tape.

Hensou and Miyano, both lying cold on the ground. Poisoned.

On the adjacent page, a girl with long white hair and blood dribbling down her chin. A muscular robot with blue oil spilling out all over the floor around him and his dislocated limbs. Odori with her blood trail, Oshima in the pool, knife by his hand.

The next page, that would be

 

 

I'm sorry. My writing was cut off there a bit. I was in a hurry. Matsuda and I are in the blue room now, and I was right! That book, those notes, they've helped us solve the puzzle here, a little.

Listen, Tsuneo, if you read this, Yoshie is in trouble. Neither of us really cared as much about her I think, but she is in a bad place right now, even worse than us I think, and I'd hate to lose her anyways.

I can't say what's actually going on here. It's against the rules, but I think we're winning! The puzzles are difficult, but we've got it down.

We just beat the blue room. There's another one after it, the red room. It's very warm in here. Someone's tracked in sand on the ground. The puzzles are nearly exactly the same though. I don't think this will be a problem at all!

After the red room, there's a white room. The pages are fluttering as I write, there's a lot of artificial wind in here. It's a nice cool down after the red room. The puzzles are getting harder, but still, I believe we can do it!

Tsuneo, I, I can't believe it. Why would you do it? This is the right answer to get out, but I don't understand. The wind is deafening.

We beat the rooms. The prize is the key code to the archive. It's !̧̛͕͙̪͍͕̙͍̰̰̹̩͖̬̌͌͒ͫ̆ͧ̃̅ͪ͆̋͊̏̅ͩ̕͞#̵̷̢̗̬̲͇̘̗̩͓͚ͥ̾̋̍̔̔͒͑͌̅̊ͥ̃̒̾̍̊̽̕͞%̷͐̃̅̔̇̏͊͌ͣͭͫ̃ͨ͝҉̨͙̲͍̻͕&̸̯̖̹̜̣̭̭͈̠̣̙͉̬̟̯͙̊̾̃̑͌̒̏̓͑ͥ̋̏ͭ̔͟͡)̢̼̣͎̖̠̺͍̗̋ͬͫͧ͐̃͟͜͠. I hope you find this, and I hope you can get inside too.

I'm not sure what to believe any more.

I know what's written here is true, but it's still hard to take.

Believe it or not,

I remember everything."

 

You look up from reading your sister's notebook. You thought it would help, but

You don't understand anything at all at this point.

END Day 2

END Daily Life

4 Students remain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I lied. This is not a bonus chapter. It's incredibly plot important.


	26. Chapter Five: No Time Left: Deadly Life- Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short chapter, apologies. The investigation will hopefully be full length on Tuesday.

Masuyo has been acting suspicious, you decide, when she leaves for the Library even though it's pelting rain out there. There's another umbrella for you by the door, but you don't plan on leaving today, yourself. _Someone_ has gifted you with a funplane and a collection of games which she failed miserably at playing.

You spend the next few hours beating all of the recorded high scores, then finding out why it was that Masuyo got stuck. The difficulty of these levels increases sharply at the least expected point. It's not too much of a challenge, you could do it, but the repetitiveness of shooting the same badly animated zombie after zombie is getting to you. None of the other games are any different. You guess after a life-threatening mystery in real life everything else just seems shallow and bland.

Somewhere close to halfway through the day you hear a knock at the door. You ignore it at first, but the noise continues. It's loud and clear above the rain in the background. You get up to see who it is. You're still tired. You've ruined your sleep schedule beyond repair.

Hiniwa stands outside on the porch with an umbrella.

"Oh? I thought I heard someone at the door." You say, looking around him in a joking manner. A chill runs down your spine at the sight of Soushin behind him, doing her best attempt at a glare.

"Get out of my way, I'm going inside." She says, pushing past the two of you. She walks, counting her steps under her breath, until turning and setting her hat in the kitchen sink. She takes the ties out of her hair and shakes it dry, not that it was so wet in the first place. She speaks directly to Hiniwa. "What, are you a vampire or something? Do you need an invitation?"

You shrug, and he steps inside after shaking some of the rain off of his umbrella. He sets it down by the dark green one, it stands out from the rest of the decor. You realize Soushin's is in the sink with her hat.

"Why are you two here?" You ask. "And together of all things?"

"Do I need an excuse to hang out?" Soushin sighs. "Jeez, I don't got a teammate like you two, my place is suuuper boring right now! Don't know why he's here though." She gestures vaguely towards Hiniwa, still stuck in the entryway.

"Matsuda wanted to be left alone for a bit." Hiniwa explains. "She said she was trying to sort something out, I have no idea what. I couldn't think of any specific place I wanted to go, however Soushin-san dragged me along with her."

"Please, you were headed this direction anyways." Soushin says teasingly. She carefully navigates up the short flight of stairs and places herself on your bed. "So, what've you got to do around here? Surely you're not as boring as an empty house."

"My house is kinda empty though." You say. "I guess with the whole mystery talent thing monokuma thought we didn't need anything."

"Nothing?" Soushin asks, shocked. "My cabin was filled with stuff, instruments, flags, probably some stuff for Keina-chi too, but I didn't pay as much attention to that."

"There were even a few things in the Blue Cabin which I see you don't have here." Hiniwa says. "Not that either of our talents are very applicable to decor."

"That makes this building the most boring location in the entire dome." Soushin groans. "I make such bad decisions sometimes."

"Dome?" You ask. You've been left out of the loop.

"Oh, that's right." Hiniwa says. "You weren't there when we investigated the new area. There were quite a few things there, maybe we could show you?"

"Show him another time, it's raining." Soushin decides for you. "For now we can just explain things, right, Tsuneo-chi?"

"That's okay." You say. The rain bothers you a lot, you must say.

"Fine then." Hiniwa sighs. "There was a recording studio first of all, I think Soushin was the only one to investigate the inside of that, but it wasn't very interesting. Then there was a junkyard, the same one Emmi-"

"Get to the point!" Soushin demands. "The interesting part!"

"I will, however every part of this is important." Hiniwa says. "Before the so called 'interesting part', there was a large gray building, which was perfectly rectangular on all sides. It was locked, at least, that was the general impression I got. Your sister was the one to investigate that further. So beyond that, in the final clearing, was a large circular door, and the wall around it seems to suggest that this entire environment is enclosed within a dome. Some kind of artificial sky, if you will."

"Then how is it raining?" You ask. It's actually the least of your questions.

"I am not a meteorologist." He says. "It could be very advanced technology or something of the sort. The point is that there's a ceiling above us. Although, it doesn't change much I should think."

"You're right, it can't be that much of a disadvantage." You say. "We couldn't fly before, we can't fly now."

Soushin stops all movement at once, even the slight swinging of her legs where they didn't reach the floor.

"Hensou-chan could fly a plane." She says. "He said so himself once, I'm pretty sure."

"But where would we find a plane?" You ask. "Even if he were alive."

"You didn't notice?" Hiniwa questions. "Your maps should have updated on your eHandbook. Supposedly the next two sets of stairs are unshuttered, even if we can't reach them. There's supposed to be an Air Hanger on the roof of the main building."

"But we can't get to it, and there's a ceiling." You insist. "There's no point in worrying about it. That door is right there. It's obvious. It's our best chance."

"And how do you suggest we open that door?" Soushin asks. "It's locked like, fifty times, and I'm not sure anyone here is strong enough to even move it if it were unlocked."

"There must be some mechanism to unlock it." You say. "This is all a game to the mastermind, it's not fair if they're the only one who can win."

"That is a bit of a twisted mindset." Hiniwa says. "Although, I wouldn't put it past them."

"Are you kidding me?" Soushin asks. "Have you seen everything else they've done? I'd say it's for sure. So, we've just got to find that 'magic button' which will let us out of here."

"Sadly, that would be currently inaccessible to us." Hiniwa says. "It's most likely on one of those upper floors, the ones we can't reach. If this is a game, then they wouldn't make it so easy."

There's an itching sensation in the back of your mind. You don't know what it means. You ignore it.

"All we've got to do then is beat one of the remaining challenges, right?" Soushin asks. She seems enthusiastic.

"No, I don't think that's possible." Hiniwa says. "We still don't know the dangers of either of them. I think it would be a wiser idea to wait a bit."

It doesn't go away when you ignore it, apparently. It only gets worse. It's getting harder to concentrate on the conversation happening in front of you. Being as tired as you are doesn't help.

"Hey, could we talk about this later?" You ask. "I'm kind of tired, and I could use some rest."

"Tired already? You've barely done anything all day!" Soushin says. "Come on, where's your spirit?"

"Leave him alone." Hiniwa says. "If he says he needs to rest, then who are we to stop him?"

Soushin begrudgingly gathers her things up again and follows Hiniwa out the door. The Cabin is silent at last. You return to your bed and fall asleep almost instantly.

You wake up refreshed a few hours later. It's just past the nighttime announcement, which is a good time you guess, and the rain has stopped. It's still very quiet. You swear you hear crickets.

You notice Masuyo isn't in bed, maybe she hasn't returned from the library yet. Her sleep schedule has been messed with too. The books must be interesting too. There were a lot of them there, plenty to read.

Your head still hurts.

There's no sense trying to make your own food, you realize as your stomach grumbles. Time to raid food mart.

It's not really raiding if the stuff there was put for you to take, you guess, but it's more fun to call it that. There is a lot of food there. It's good, but not as good as the homemade stuff.

You relax in the bathhouse after eating.

This is the kind of life you'd like to live if you could. Carefree, with everything provided for you. It seems like everyone likes that life in theory. You don't understand why everyone is in such a hurry to get out. Masuyo is here, and she's the only one who's ever cared about you, besides yourself of course.

Mom and Dad were dicks.

Truthfully, they were the perfect model Japanese parents, hardworking, sending money home to their kids, trying to make sure you got into a good school by pushing you for good grades and homework.

Thinking about it makes you want to puke, but maybe that's just the heat in the bath.

You were one of those kids who everyone called "gifted" when you were young, then you caved under the pressure later on. You got good enough test scores to get into some high school, and you guess you got accepted into Hope's Peak after that for some reason. You wouldn't remember standing at the door otherwise, you guess.

You sigh. Trying to make sense of this is causing more stress than the steam is letting off.

You wonder why you brought up Yoshie the other day to Masuyo. She was never an important person in either of your lives, normally off travelling with your parents. The only time you remember her staying over was when they went on longer trips. She didn't have a passport, so she couldn't go overseas. There was still a room for her in the apartment though. You weren't allowed inside.

You remember one day that she got a letter. She snatched it out of your hands before you could even read the return address. That was spring break, right before the school year started for your ninth year.

Yoshie started going to a boarding school once she started middle school, and she stopped travelling. Supposedly she skipped a grade or two, even smarter than you or Masuyo combined. She got accepted into some prestigious high school, that was what the letter was for. She had to finish out her last two years of middle school, though.

That stuck with you. She seemed more excited to tell you and Masuyo than she did to tell your parents. Maybe the school had had some connection to you.

You've thought too long on this.

You climb out of the bath and dry off just in time for your eHandbook to go off with an alarm you set for midnight, when you normally go to sleep. You're still wide awake, though.

There's nowhere to go that's still interesting. Everywhere is either locked or been ruined already. That is, except for the new area.

You don't need a guide, no matter what the others said. You don't see why everyone worries about you so much.

You get dressed and walk around the curve of small lake to the other path. It looks weird without a gate there. It doesn't matter much.

You walk down the path.

The building you see which you suppose is the recording studio is unclear from far away in the dark. It's shaped like one of those houses children draw when they're young. A square with a triangle on top, two windows on each level, a door centered on the bottom floor. It looks like it's got a flag pole attached just below the roof, how quaint.

Wait.

That's, not a flagpole.

There's something dripping, the color of blood, down from what appeared to be the flag pole, something at the base of it, and it's dark, but, you think,

it can't be.

You don't want to believe it, it seems impossible, yet, it's right there in front of your eyes.

Pinned to the building like a crucifix, with a spear sticking through the window behind it, arms upheld by knives in the centers of the palms.

The face is scarred off, but it's obvious.

Ajiyama Masuyo is dead.

END Deadly Life 1

 


	27. Chapter Five: No Time Left: Deadly Life- Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *laughs* what is an update schedule haha. Warning for reanimated corpses in this chapter. Just skip to the end at the haunted house segment if that stuff bothers you.

Monokuma's voice comes over the speakers.

*Ding dong, Bing bong* "Ahem, I'm actually breaking my own rules here, but you all should probably wake up! Something very important has happened! I'll be sending lots of alarms to your eHandbooks to help you get moving!"

You immediately shut the alarm off. You've been awake for a while now, and yet still somehow you've never felt so dead. You're not sure what's going on, and you find yourself unable to take your eyes off the body.

You fall to the ground on your knees and hold your head in your hands. There might be tears coming from your eyes. You're not sure.

You're not even sure if you're dreaming or not.

You wish you were, but that would be too nice of a reality to wake up to.

You think Matsuda is the first to show up. She acts shocked, but she doesn't seem to notice you at first. You don't actually look up, but it's easy to recognize when she's there.

Hiniwa arrives next, and Soushin very quickly after. Another announcement plays over the speakers. You can barely stay there enough to know what it says.

"A body has been discovered! After a brief period of investigation, the Class Trial will commence."

Then she's really...

You push it off, and stand up. The announcement means monokuma plans to show up soon, and he'll bother you less if you try not to look so upset.

Everyone else is looking at you with concerned faces. It doesn't help. Sure enough, monokuma pops up near the center of the area to join them.

"Oh, wow! Another one!" He says, as if he didn't already know. "I'm so proud of you all that my heart is about to burst! Doki doki desu~!"

"Where's the second body?" Soushin asks, ignoring what monokuma said in favor of bothering him for answers. "There should be another one, right?"

"Are you volunteering?" Monokuma chimes. "I'd be happy to help!"

"No, no, I'm okay, really." Soushin says hurriedly. "It just seems weird, that all the other times there were two, but now there's just the one."

"I-it's nothing to b-be worried about." Matsuda says. "L-let's just g-get the monokuma f-file already, so w-we can get r-rid of him."

"So pushy!" Monokuma laughs. "Fine, here you go, I'll see you all at the trial then! Good luck!"

"Hearing him say that almost makes me want to skip." Soushin sighs after he leaves.

"You know if you try it won't work." Hiniwa says. "We'll just wind up with that second body you said was missing."

"Yeah, I know." Soushin sighs again. "Hey, Tsuneo-chi, you've been really quiet. I know it's Masuyo-chan and all, but-" The informal mention of your sister's name bothers you.

"Let him b-be." Matsuda says. "These things sh-shouldn't be r-rushed, you know."

"No, I'm fine." You lie. It's obvious. No one points it out. "We've got an investigation to do. The fact that it's Masuyo just means I'll have to try harder to find the killer and avenge her."

You hate hearing the way your voice cracks a bit.

"I admire your determination." Hiniwa says. "Don't be afraid to stop if you need, but know that we may leave you behind."

You nod, and take out the monokuma file.

"<Monokuma File 5>

Victim: Unknown  
Time of Death: Unknown  
Place of Death: Unknown  
Cause of Death: Unknown  
Other Notes: The victim's face is burnt off to the point of unrecognizability. Each of the hands and feet are stabbed through the center by a survival knife. Long slashes run down the outer sides of the upper arms and thighs. There is a large stab wound through the middle of the torso. There are traces of the Diaspara Toxin in the bloodstream, and a small bruise on the back of the head."

[Monokuma File has been added to the truth bullets]

"W-what the hell is this?" Matsuda shouts. "All this is is a list of injuries!"

"You're right!" Soushin exclaims. "What are we supposed to do with this that we couldn't on our own!"

"I suppose it's true that aside for the poisoning I could have figured out any of this on my own." Hiniwa says. "There really was almost no point to this file except to confuse us."

You still feel kind of detached. They're probably going to go off on some kind of useless conversation about the file being misleading, and you don't feel like listening to it at the moment.

Something on the ground nearby catches your eye.

It's only a small glint. It's dark outside after all, but a bit of metallic ink on the front must have bounced some light into your eye. The rest of the cover is black. Written on the front in that metallic ink are the words "Forest Nightmare" and Masuyo's name. This is her journal. She always wrote down what happened to her in here. It would be a good idea to check the latest entry to find out what happened, but the moral ambiguity of the situation makes you worried.

You decide that it's probably necessary to find out what happened.

Sorry, Masuyo.

You turn to the latter part of the book, where the last entry should be. You notice a little piece of blue string in the spiral binding.

[Blue fiber has been added to the truth bullets]

Taking the opened book, you sit down on the damp ground and start reading. You spend a good half hour or more reading and rereading this, but each time you reach the end you only get more confused. You honestly thought reading this might help, but there's no sense to be made of it. Masuyo is dead and the last thing she wrote, her last known words, were that she remembered everything. You remember jack shit in comparison.

[Masuyo's Notebook has been added to the truth bullets]

You toss the slightly bloodied black notebook to the side and try to think.

Hiniwa interrupts any semblance of an idea of the meaning of the book with a tap on your shoulder.

"I'm going to go investigate the warehouse." He says. "I plan to get a ladder so we can get the body down and take a look ourselves, as well as check various inventories of weaponry there. I assume you'll want to stay here?"

You nod. He turns and leaves for the central area, and presumably the first forest path.

The wind rustles in the trees. It's time to be true to your word and investigate. You suppose there's not much to actually do here, but there's got to be something to look for. Maybe you'll try for some sort of alibi from the others.

"Matsuda-san," you call her name from across the clearing. She seems surprised to be paid attention to. "Hey, you went to the blue room with Masuyo, right? What all did you find there."

"H-how did you know th-that?" She asks. "She c-couldn't have t-told you about it, c-could she?"

"No, not by word of mouth at least." You reply. "I found her journal, and I read through it. I was hoping it would help us pin down the culprit easier. Looks like that's not the case though."

"She w-wrote about t-the b-blue room in there?" Matsuda stumbles. "B-but, we p-promised not to sh-share the answers, and it w-was one of m-monokuma's rules th-that we couldn't say what happened while we w-were inside."

"What could there have been in there that monokuma needed to hide?" You ask, almost to yourself. "I understand the student files, but there was never any restriction on those. Are you sure you can't say anything, Matsuda-san?"

"I a-already told y-you I c-can't." She snaps. "B-besides, why would I w-want to f-feed information to a n-nasty t-traitor like y-you anyways?"

"Nasty traitor?"

"G-get away from m-me!" She shouts. "I'm not t-telling you a-anything."

You separate yourself from Matsuda, a bit surprised at her outburst, but mostly confused at what she meant. At the very least you know something more about the Blue Room.

[Blue Room Game Rules has been added to the truth bullets]

You try Soushin next. She notices you approaching before you can say a word.

"Tsuneo-chi! Did you need something?" She asks. "I'm not sure what I can do to help, but I'm there if you need me, for sure!" She seems a little overenthusiastic. You see the worry in her eyes.

"I was just wondering if you knew anything about what happened during the murder." You say. "Something about the victim, or anything you think is involved really."

"Sorry, not a clue," she says. "Guess that was just bad luck with the question then."

"What about you?" You ask. She looks curious as to what you mean. "What were you doing before the body was found?"

"Ah, I was asleep!" She laughs. "I'm actually a pretty heavy sleeper, so it took a while for me to realize an alarm was going off on my phone. Honestly, if monokuma had just chosen a different alarm,"

She sighs and pauses a second, pretending to look around the area. More than anything, she's making this an awkward silence, but she speaks up before you can leave or break it.

"Listen, Tsuneo-chi, are you sure you're taking this alright?" She asks. "I mean, Masuyo-chan is dead, you don't seem to be acting much different. You shouldn't internalize that kinda stuff, you know."

"Don't worry about me." You say. "There's a time to grieve after the trial, otherwise we can only wind up with more people dead, right?"

"Right, Tsuneo-chi!" She smiles. You're tired of people worrying over you for this.

Hiniwa comes back and saves you from spending any more time stumbling through conversation with Soushin. He's got a rather long ladder under one arm, but it seems the right size to be able to get Masuyo down.

"Well?" Matsuda says upon his appearance. "Your report on what you fucking found? Get on with it."

"If you would actually give me the chance to speak." Hiniwa responds. "I was only able to give a brief once-over of the area, but I was able to find a few things."

"Which included?" Matsuda presses.

"Along the far wall of the building there was a display case." Hiniwa says, purposefully taking his time. "There were a variety of extravagant looking weapons there, each labeled, but one of the panes of glass was broken through. The placard underneath read 'Spear of Gungnir'. I think we can assume this is the thing through Ajiyama-san's stomach."

[Spear of Gungnir has been added to the truth bullets]

Everyone seems to agree with this statement, and Hiniwa begins to set up the ladder, while continuing to speak.

"I was able to locate the itinerary for a certain section of weaponry which included the survival knives." He says. "There were five missing, along with suspiciously a bundle of steel arrows and a roll of duct tape, though those may not be included in this particular crime."

[Itinerary has been added to the truth bullets]

"Wait, five knives were missing?" Soushin asks. "Aren't there only four here? Is there another one hidden that we should be looking for?"

"The f-fifth one w-was probably used b-back at the second t-trial by Otsuka." Matsuda says. "I-it's not what we should b-be worried about right now."

"So what would you say  _is_ what we should be worrying about?" Soushin continues. "If not the knives, then what else is suspicious there?"

Hiniwa has started to unstick the survival knives from the recording studio's siding. They seem to be rather wedged in there.

"I-it's the a-arrows, obviously." Matsuda says. "The c-cause of d-death is unknown, so any w-weaponry which c-could have been involved is s-something to take n-note of."

"There aren't any arrow wounds on Masuyo-chan's body though." Soushin says. "It wouldn't make sense as a weapon in this case."

"An arrow isn't always used as an arrow." Matsuda says. You're not sure what she means. She doesn't clarify. Hiniwa speaks up from his point at the top of the ladder.

"I have good and bad news." He says. "The bad news is I was unable to determine the cause of death. I could, however confirm everything in the monokuma file except the poisoning, though that doesn't do us much."

"It's still something." You say. "But what's the good news?"

"I originally thought that the slashes on the upper arms and thighs were made by the survival knives, but it seems like that is not the case." He says. "The wound there, as well as the way the fabric splits, it's more indicative of a sharp pointed tool pulled down in a scratching motion than a knife being slashed."

[Hiniwa's Body Analysis has been added to the truth bullets]

"How d-do you know w-what different t-types of wounds look l-like?" Matsuda asks.

"I don't know how I know." Hiniwa says. "I just do."

"If th-that's not suspicious th-then I don't know w-what is." She says. "H-how can we be sure y-you're not j-just trying to t-trick us? It's happened b-before, and w-with you b-being a s-spy and all..."

"Leave it, Matsuda-san." You say. "Of all things, we don't need this right now."

"You've started taking after your sister." Matsuda says in disgust. "You might not want to do that, considering what happened to her."

You find yourself unable to respond. You ignore Matsuda and her sour mood for now, and leave to look at something else.

Or you would, but you still try to pay attention when Hiniwa asks her a question.

"Matsuda, there's something that's been bothering me actually." He says.

"So what?" Matsuda asks. "Get the hell on with it, then."

"Yesterday, it was raining." Hiniwa states plainly, but it sounds like the beginning of a long explanation before his actual question. "Because of this, someone, I assume monokuma, placed umbrellas near our doors for us. When I woke up in the morning, there were two red umbrellas by the door. I took one for myself when you told me to leave, however when I came back there was an extra green one there. Now as far as I know there's no reason for the green umbrella to have been there, Ajiyama-kun?" You infer that he means it might be your umbrella, but you shake your head to indicate that no, it wasn't yours. You never left the house while it was raining anyways. "Then, if it's not his, do you have a reason for it to be there?"

[Green Umbrella has been added to the truth bullets]

"Th-that's an unrelated m-matter." Matsuda says. "It's n-not related to the c-case."

"Hm?" Soushin speaks up, and you had almost forgotten she was there. "Then why was it there, Matsuda-chan? There's got to be a reason, right?"

"I'm telling you it's not important." Matsuda snaps. "If it comes up again we can discuss it in the trial."

Soushin huffs, as if to say "okay then", and now you're actually allowed to leave the conversation. It seems like Matsuda is still trying to purposefully make people upset, and honestly it's working. It's like she doesn't care about the progression of the investigation at all.

You look up at the body. It's a more vertical view now. You decide not to climb the ladder yourself for a look. You never were good with heights anyways. Thinking of trying to climb the ladder sends a shiver down your spine. You do notice something on it though.

There's another small blue string looking thing stuck in one of the parts where the metal is jointed together. It looks like the same kind as what was in the journal.

[Blue Fiber has been updated in the truth bullets]

Hiniwa speaks up from behind you. It makes you jump, but not noticeably so.

"Did you want to investigate inside the building?" He asks. You realize now that you are standing kind of close to the door. "I was planning on going inside soon myself."

"I wasn't actually thinking about it, but I guess we should." You say. "There has to be something important inside, right?"

"Even if there's not anything, it should be a good idea to investigate the structure of the wall that the body is pinned to." He says. "I'm curious as to what's on the other side of that spear."

You try not to think about it much.

Soushin and Matsuda are both occupied talking to each other about something, so you're able to slip inside the building unbothered.

There's a small area depressed into the floor. Masuyo's shoes are stored here, covered in blood, and that solves the mystery of where her shoes went, but you know it's not important to the case. The way Masuyo takes orientates her shoes when she takes them off is very particular, and she never lets that process be rushed. She didn't put these here.

You take off your shoes though, toeing them off by the heel, and step sock-footed into the main area of the building. It's all very sleek and modern. This first floor looks like a lobby, but you don't think that's important. The floor is a yellowy hardwood, and the walls a soft light-gray. Everything is spotless. You start up the stairs, the same color as the floor. Hiniwa follows after pausing a bit at the door. You assume he takes off his shoes as well.

The second floor is just as clean as the first. You turn yourself to face the direction that the body would be, so you can find the room that shares a wall with it. It turns out to be one of the many recording booths. It's completely untouched. The outermost wall you can find is thick with sound insulation. There's not even a hint of the spear poking though here.

[Interior of Recording Studio has been added to the truth bullets]

"Is that it? Really?" Hiniwa asks. "I felt like there would be more than that. This place just had to be the scene of the crime. Everywhere else is just inconvenient."

"Inconveniency might be worth it if you want to hide your crime though!" Monokuma shouts out of nowhere. You're getting very tired of surprises very quickly.

"What do you want?" Hiniwa asks, not even turning towards the bear. "We're kind of busy right now. Ajiyama-kun, do you think we'll be able to check out the Blue Room before the trial? It sounds important doesn't it?"

You're about to agree when monokuma interrupts again.

"You two are just soooo rude, ignoring me like that!" He says. "Besides, there's no way you could do that now! I locked that room up for good once the other two beat it and won the prize! No Blue Room for you!" Monokuma pauses, taking on a less hostile expression. "If you're just looking to get access to the archive though, the other challenge is very available."

"The Haunted House?" Hiniwa asks with a skeptical look on his face. "You actually want us to try that? If that's the case it's got to be a trick."

"Why would I ever try to trick you?" Monokuma pouts. "We're working for the same person after all! I'm just trying to give you some valuable intel to help you get through the trial!"

"And we're supposed to expect you to let us complete the place before time runs out?" Hiniwa continues. He seems bothered by something monokuma said. "Knowing you, you'd call for the trial when we were only halfway through and trap us there."

"I would never!" Monokuma says. "In fact, if someone were to start the challenge, I would practically pause the timer to when the trial starts! Of course, no one is allowed to do any investigation in the meantime, but the entire time you're in there I can't do anything!"

"That sounds suspicious." Hiniwa says. You find yourself agreeing silently. "Oh well, getting in the Archive will allow for important investigation, so I guess we don't have as much of a choice."

Monokuma leaves quietly as Hiniwa continues speaking. It's oddly uncharacteristic.

"I'll go through it quickly and get the password so we can investigate the archive before time runs out." He says. "We can't afford to waste any time now, let's go."

He starts to leave, but you grab his wrist. He looks to face you, surprised.

"No," you say. "I have to do this myself."

"Are you sure?" He asks. You nod, determined. "Well fine then, but either way we've got to get going. There's a clock we're working on."

You nod again, and leave the Recording Studio in a quick pace, trying to get to the haunted house in time before monokuma starts the trial. Matsuda and Soushin see you running, and you guess in the heat of the moment they started following you. You pull ahead while Hiniwa hangs back to explain the situation to them. The three of them follow you all the way to the Carnival Grounds, and watch as you pull open the large and heavy wooden door to the haunted house, plunging yourself into darkness.

Once the door is completely shut behind you, you hear it lock, and a single candle comes to life with light near the door on the floor. It's still fairly dark even with the candle, but you pick it up, hoping it will help you get around.

The supposed goal of the haunted house was to make it to the top level, so you begin to search for stairs, instead finding a light switch on the wall. It's very large, and looks industrial. This would have been very convenient to have found in the first place.

Pulling the lever illuminates the room in an eerie red. There are dark spots which stand out on the floor, marking a trail. You follow it through a door to a kitchen, lit in blue. The trail stops in front of a sink, where-

A hatch opens in the ceiling, allowing Kawada's posed corpse to fall into place. You jump back and hear monokuma's laughing in the distance. It feels like your heart skipped a few beats there, and it's sped up quite a bit now. You try to calm it back down with a few steadied breaths. It's not like she's moving, after all, just hung there by a few wires, made to look like she's washing a knife in the sink which doesn't seem to actually have any water running.

Maybe you played a little too much of that zombie fps game.

It definitely looks like her real corpse, though. You did wonder what kind of injuries she had received while being eaten by the giant plant, but it's hard to tell if that's what has caused her gruesome appearance or if it's just rot. She's probably been waiting in the ceiling for a few weeks, after all.

You notice a tiny bit of movement, her head shifting just a bit in your direction. It's probably only your imagination, but you go on guard anyways. It's a good thing too, because the next second, the wires move, lunging Kawada in your direction, the knife outstretched. You narrowly jump out of the way, and your pulse rises again. The corpse-turned-puppet falls limp again, and the wires slowly reel it back into the ceiling, for the next unlucky soul to try their fate.

The lights in the room switch to red. The previous blood trail fades away in the new lighting, and another one takes its place. It leads out of the kitchen, through a different door than the one you came through. You're almost too afraid to move on, but you have to. This is for Masuyo.

The door leads into an attached laundry room. Kaisui is lying on the floor here, just as ruined as Kawada was. You realize now that this entire place smells awful, and you're surprised it didn't reach the outside enough for you to notice then. The lights in this room are already red, you continue through, to what appears to be a utility staircase. It feels like there should have been more rooms on this level, but maybe they just weren't as important.

You ascend the stairs, which lead undoubtedly to a second floor. Unexpectedly, however, they open into a storage closet. Emiline's body is posed against one of the walls in the small room. You step over her legs and open the door.

Only to be greeted by Otsuka slashing down at you with a survival knife. You dodge out of the way just an inch, but enough to keep yourself safe. You dart out of the room, but she follows you striking one move after the other with the knife. You spot a red light coming from across the room aimed at your chest. Looking at the source, you see Shiroju, with a musket, ready to shoot. You move out of the way again, and he fires a blunt. Otsuka falls to the ground as if she's been shot. You check to make sure Shiroju has stopped moving too, but you can't help but notice how his head is barely managing to stay upright. You're having a hard time even keeping your stomach down.

It looks like you're safe for now. The lights switch to red; you had hardly noticed they were blue before. A few breaths calm you down, but it's not enough. You still feel unsteady. There's another trail on the ground now. You really don't want to follow it, but you almost feel like you have to. The steps to get there feel heavy, and you open the door solemnly.

It looks like a bedroom door. Stepping inside reveals that's exactly what it is. There are two twin size beds, Hensou and Miyano lying in them. They have thermometers in their mouths and ice packs on their foreheads. The greenish skin adds to the idea of them being sick, or maybe that's the blue light.

Shibou enters from a side door, moving by a track in the ground. He's carrying a tray of tea and small snacks. You don't understand the goal of this room as easily as your instincts helped you through the other ones. You look at Shibou for a second. His body is so maimed that it's hard to tell how he's keeping upright.

You feel a presence behind you and step out of the way as Keina jumps down behind you, attacking. Xe's held together just by a few strings, and xyr limbs hang loosely from the main body. Xe falls to the floor with a thud, all of the supports suddenly gone, and Shibou does the same. It becomes a mess trying to step out of the way of their scattered limbs. The room lights up in green, different from all the other changes. You step out of the room to find the rest of the house is now the same color. You try to tell yourself that the challenge wasn't as difficult and terrifying as it actually was.

The worst is yet ahead though, you realize, as you see that this last path leads to a very dangerous looking ladder stood up to reach a small hole in the ceiling. It looks like the entrance to an attic.

You've got to be honest with yourself. You're terrified of ladders. Thinking of trying to climb that thing is even worse than anything else you've confronted so far in this god forsaken building.

You fucking hate ladders.

You've made it this far though, so it would be awful to have to back out at the sight of a ladder. You swallow the feeling of your heart beating in your throat, and try not to look down as you make your way up. Your heart is beating faster than it was during any of the corpse attacks.

It's dark up in the attic. You must have left the little candle somewhere without realizing. With the bit of green light coming through the hole down from the attic, you can make out a few things. There are lights hanging from the ceiling, in two rows. They aren't working right now though. As your eyes get more adjusted you notice the shape of the room is a long rectangle, with you standing near one of the short sides. You walk down the room, hoping to find something.

You're surprised to find that the hanging lights turn on as you pass them, leaving the room in a brighter atmosphere as you walk, and leaving your eyes hurting from the sudden change.

With this better view though, you notice a small black rectangle on the floor. You recognize it as a folder, and it's probably the "prize" monokuma boasted about. You quicken your pace to reach it and snatch it up quickly. The front reads "Hope's Peak Student Files". Flipping to the first page it says the password, "89467".

You breathe a sigh of relief at the staircase that appears on the other side of the room, or rather the side of the room you're on now. Going down a ladder is always harder than going up. Taking the stairs down leads you back into the foyer where you first entered the building, what a strange layout for a house.

The door is just as heavy leaving, but it feels more rewarding now.

Soushin lights up at the sound of the door moving, and the other two take notice as well, but they don't speak.

"So, did you do it?" She asks. "Or did you chicken out? How did it go?"

"If he's g-got the f-folder in his h-hands then he has to have w-won." Matsuda says, then turns to you. "So  _you've_ got the password now? Great." her words are laced with sarcasm.

"Yeah, we should hurry to the archive if we want to be able to look around in time." You say, ignoring Matsuda again.

"Let's get going th-"

The monitors cut off Hiniwa's thought.

"Whoops, did you expect more time?" Monokuma jeers from behind the screen. "Sorry, maybe you're just used to the extra bit I've been giving you for the second bodies! Anyways, hurry to the dining hall! It's time for the class trial!"

"Well shit." Soushin curses. "I guess we've got the files at least, you can read some of them during the elevator ride down! Let's go!"

She starts running off, the rest of you following, you with file in hand. Reading all of it can wait, but you can't help but take a peek once you get in the elevator.

You turn past the page with the Archive password to be faced with Matsuda's file. A familiar series of words catches your eye.

"Super High School Level Despair"

The elevator stops at the bottom with a jolt.

END Chapter 5 Deadly Life

 


	28. Chapter Five: No Time Left: Class Trial

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for drawn fire and descriptions of explosions in the execution.

The words are still echoing in your head as the doors slide open to the trial room. In Matsuda's file, the one phrase you never wanted to hear.

"Super High School Level Despair"

You can't really make sense of it without reading through the rest of her file, so you turn your attention to the trial room. It's incredibly bright, not the colors or anything, but the whole room seems to be lit up from every angle, filling the place with light. The ground is green with artificial plastic grass.

You take your place at the trial stand, now, alone. It was different to just lose Kawada to the one side, you didn't notice, you hadn't gotten used to it yet. Masuyo has always been by your side, since before this situation even, not having her there makes the bright room feel empty.

You take a deep breath. That's no excuse not to still do your best in the trial.

Well, it is an excuse, but you'll still try.

"Hey! Hey! Everyone still knows all the rules, right? Right?" Monokuma asks. As per usual, he doesn't wait for an answer. "Good! So get started already!"

"Started where?" Soushin asks. "It's not like we have any evidence from that useless file you gave us."

"I'll have you know I worked very hard to give you what information I did!" Monokuma says. "It's not my fault the culprit killed their victim so mysteriously."

"It should have at least been reasonable for you to list the victim." Hiniwa says. "Even with the face scarred off I see no reason for you not to keep a steady record of who's here in the forest with us."

"Office work is hard you know!" Monokuma pouts. "I can't be expected to stand guard at the monitors at all time!"

"N-no one told you th-that you had to t-take the job." Matsuda says. "In f-fact, we'd all r-rather you hadn't."

"Besides, don't you normally just blot out what's important to the case?" Soushin asks monokuma. "Everyone else could see the victim clearly, so how would that be a piece of crucial evidence that points to the culprit?"

"Actually Soushin, that's not true." You say. "The rest of us, we couldn't tell exactly who the victim was. Masuyo's face was burned off, it was only because of the rest of the body that we could tell it was her."

"C-couldn't it be someone else th-then?" Matsuda asks. "If we d-don't have the m-monokuma file or a ph-physical match to identify her, then who's to say it's n-not someone else's b-body disguised as her?"

"Who else could it be?" You ask. "It's not reasonable to say it's someone else, if there  _is_ no one else."

"Besides," monokuma interrupts. "I can verify that no one except for the sixteen students trapped here has stepped foot inside the dome since its creation! The door to the outside is super sealed, so there's no way somebody could have snuck in!"

"For some reason I don't feel like we should trust him on that." Soushin says.

"We don't have any other choice right now." You say. "It's Masuyo, we can move on now."

"So what do you plan on moving on to?" Hiniwa asks. "There isn't exactly much to go off of."

Your mind briefly jumps to bringing up the student files. You decide against it. There's no proving that's related to the murder. Instead you decide on a different topic.

"What about the cause of death?" You suggest. "It wasn't covered in the file, so it's got to get us somewhere."

"But we don't have any clues to it, do we?" Soushin asks. "Just a list of injuries. I don't think that really helps much."

"If we can just go down that list and clarify what happened to make each of them happen it might be easier." Hiniwa says. "First, how about the large wound through her abdomen?"

"I don't think that could be it." You say. "With it being caused by the spear like it was, it's too impractical for it to be the cause of death. For Masuyo to be alive when that happened-" a shiver runs down your spine.

"You m-might be thinking about it too o-objectively." Matsuda says. "I-if Ajiyama-san was unc-conscious at the time, th-then it might b-be more reasonable for it to have h-happened."

"Where do you get that idea?" Soushin asks. "There's nothing that should make us think she was unconscious, right?"

"Th-there was." Matsuda says. "The traces of the D-diaspara T-toxin in her bloodstream."

"Why would the Diaspara Toxin cause her to go unconscious?" You ask. "It's a poison, when ingested it kills within 18 hours, and when injected it kills within a few minutes."

"Th-those are only two o-of the uses." Matsuda says. "There are m-many more, o-one of which is extremely relevant h-here. W-when vaporized, the toxin causes anyone who b-breathes it in to g-go into a state where they are d-detached from their senses. She w-wouldn't have been able to s-see, hear, smell, t-taste, or f-feel anything if it got into her s-system that way."

"I don't know, that seems kind of off." Soushin says. "For anything to be able to cause that kind of a reaction, especially one that is just a normal poison through other methods."

"The v-vaporization j-just slows down the s-symptoms." Matsuda says. "It h-happened to the other two b-before they died, just a lot quicker."

"That sounds a bit too convenient." Hiniwa says. "But I guess we don't have anything to disprove you. It could happen."

"Alright, so where does that get us?" Soushin asks. "Even with Ajiyama-chan being in a state like that, it still seems unlikely that the spear through her stomach is really how she died."

"It would have made it easier for other things to happen though." Hiniwa says. "The other injuries, especially the marks on the arms, it seems incredibly suspicious for them to be made they were, but with this new information."

"Are you onto something?" You ask.

"Probably, but give me a minute," he says. "Talk about the bruise on the back of her head, you can handle that without me."

"Yeah! The bruise! How did that happen?" Soushin asks. "There didn't seem to be any weapons nearby that could have done it, and don't understand why it happened either. I mean, was there some significance to it?"

"There probably actually was." You say. "The culprit was trying to make a point with how they harmed the body, they were referencing something, it might have been part of that."

"R-referencing something?" Matsuda asks. She has a knowing look on her face. "W-well what could it have b-been then?"

"I'm not sure myself." You say. Your head is starting to hurt. "Masuyo, she found a notebook in the library yesterday. It says so in her journal. Inside the notebook, there were notes and pictures comparing our situation to something previous to ours. She copied all the text, but she never described the pictures that would have gone along with this, so I'm not sure."

"What's it say though?" Soushin asks. "It's got to be something important, right? Come on, read it!"

You pull out Masuyo's journal and read directly from the text.

"Spear of Gungnir is the cause of death, but other wounds are inflicted by a survival knife. Massive confusion over the cause of death."

You leave out the part about someone being framed.

"That actually doesn't help much." Soushin sighs. "We already are confused over the cause of death, and I still don't see how the spear could be it."

"That's because we're thinking about it the wrong way." Hiniwa speaks up. You assume he's finished figuring out that thing. "The spear is what killed her, but the stomach wound isn't."

"I don't th-think I understand what y-you're saying." Matsuda says. "W-weren't we s-still on the head wound, sh-shouldn't we finish that first?"

Something flashes in your mind.

"The bruise on the back of her head was caused by the arrows which were missing from the itinerary." You say. "If you used the duct tape to tie a bundle of them together, then it would be the exact right kind of weapon for that."

"What an ingenious idea!" Soushin shouts. "How'd you figure that out, are you sure you're not the killer?"

You can't answer that.

"That seems to fit though." Hiniwa says. "There didn't seem to be anything else missing from the warehouse, and the use of those arrows and the duct tape was unclear."

"Right then, so back to what you were saying about the spear?" You say, hoping Hiniwa will continue before things get awkward.

"Ah, well, the spear is the cause of death, but not in the way you would suspect automatically." He says. "Rather, the vertical wounds on the upper arms and thighs, that's what we should be looking at. Through the shape of the wound and the tearing of the fabric, I figured it might be something like a skewer that was dragged downward to create the markings, but looking at it, what is a spear but a very large skewer?"

"I don't understand what you're getting at." Soushin says. "I thought the slash wounds were just caused by the survival knives."

"No, they were caused by the spear." Hiniwa says. "The tip of the spear was dragged to make the wound while Ajiyama-san was in the state caused by the poison. She was then allowed to bleed out through those wounds until she died from blood loss."

"What a c-cruel way to kill s-someone!" Matsuda exclaims. "It w-would be so s-slow, and p-painful!"

"But Ajiyama-chan wouldn't have felt anything due to the poison." Soushin says. "You told us that yourself."

"I g-guess you're r-right, but still." Matsuda says. "It j-just sounds awful."

"Then, the head wound might have been caused at any time just for the sake of referencing whatever was being referenced," you say. "And once she was dead, the culprit pinned her to the exterior of the recording studio with the survival knives and the very same spear."

"Or m-maybe she wasn't d-dead yet." Matsuda whispers. Somehow you hear her from across the courtroom.

"Ugghhh! We haven't gotten anywhere!" Soushin exclaims out of nowhere. "Sure, now we know the stuff that  _should_ have been in the monokuma file, but that doesn't get us that much closer to the culprit."

"We've only found the cause of death," you say. "And, despite how it seems, that does get us somewhere."

"How?" She asks.

"Let's figure an area of reference for the other things first." Hiniwa suggests. "Knowing the cause of death is nice, but place and time could be even more useful."

"S-so, time of d-death then," Matsuda says. "Where to start..."

"It had to have been before I found the body." You say. "Which, was just past midnight, so I'd assume it was before eleven pm, with how much setup was involved."

"And for the early parameter, when was the last time someone saw her before that?" Soushin asks. "I hadn't spoken to her except in the Library, and that was in the morning."

"I didn't see her at all." Hiniwa says. "Ajiyama-kun, what does the notebook say? Perhaps there's a hint there."

"The only person Masuyo mentions talking to after Soushin is Matsuda." You say. "First, meeting her in the Blue Cabin, then a small mention of her during the Blue Room."

"So, Matsuda-chan, what time did you guys enter the Blue Room?" Soushin asks, turning to face the one about to speak.

"It m-must have been ab-bout eight o'clock when we e-entered it, we both ate b-beforehand." Matsuda says. "And the ch-challenges, th-they took p-probably an hour and a h-half in total, s-so that w-would make it b-between n-nine thirty and eleven?"

"It seems like it." Hiniwa says. "So the place of death, or at least the crime, do we have any clues to that?"

"Th-the obvious answer i-is the r-recording s-studio." Matsuda says. "It w-was nearby, so the c-culprit w-wouldn't have to carry the b-body so far."

"I don't think that's it, Matsuda-san." You say. "The entire inside of the recording studio was spotless, we went inside, remember? It didn't look like someone had entered beyond the entryway."

"It had to be somewhere easily cleaned, or where someone wouldn't notice a mess." Soushin says. "Because of all the blood, you know?"

"R-right," Matsuda sighed. "I g-guess I was w-wrong then."

"That rules out a few other places too." Hiniwa says. "If it was any place we had seen between waking up and entering the trial room, then we would have noticed."

"So, not the cabins, or the store, or the laundry building." Soushin says. "I would have noticed the color there, I think."

"Not the carnival grounds, warehouse, or dining hall either." Hiniwa says.

"That d-doesn't narrow it down m-much." Matsuda says. "W-we're still down t-to just guessing."

"Then let's guess." You say, to be greeted with shocked expressions in return. "If you were a killer, one who didn't want anyone to find out where you killed someone, where would you do it?"

"W-what kind of a question is th-that?" Matsuda shouts. "Y-you're just t-trying to out the m-murderer by t-tricking them! You p-probably know the p-place of d-death already and are j-just waiting for th-them to say it!"

"I would probably do it some place that they wouldn't be able to enter." Soushin says, ignoring Matsuda. "Like, if the room was locked, then nobody would be able to find the place of death no matter where they looked, right?"

"That was actually really smart." Hiniwa says.

"Of course it was!" Soushin pouts. "You all are honestly just lucky I haven't wanted to kill anyone yet, you'd never find out."

"So, Soushin, if we consider the places like that, where could that be?" You ask.

"Hmmm, the Locked Building in forest path 4, or the haunted house, but you checked there, so, one of the floors we haven't access yet maybe?" She lists of a few locations. They're possible, but not what you had in mind.

"The Blue Room." You say. "Monokuma's rules for the room, they involved that once the room was beaten, no one else could enter."

"He did say that, but where do you get the idea from?" Hiniwa asks. "If Matsuda-san and Ajiyama-san were the ones to beat it, then it's not possible. The culprit wouldn't have been able to enter either."

"You're looking over a major detail." You say. "One of us did it. One of us  _four_ , and I think you know that most of the evidence is pointing to one person in particular, but you don't want to consider it."

"I don't understand what you're getting at here." He says. Maybe you've got to be more blunt.

"Matsuda Hana." You say. "She had the perfect opportunity to kill Masuyo and get away with it, and she's been acting suspiciously the entire time. She wouldn't even talk to me during the investigation."

"I w-wouldn't t-talk to you b-because of s-something we f-found in the blue room." Matsuda says. "And I c-can't tell you what that i-is! Where do you get off, trying to call me a fucking murderer?"

"That's an easy excuse not to share evidence." You say. "But alright then, if you didn't do it, explain all the evidence against you."

"What  _fucking evidence_?" She asks.

"Well, first off, the Green Umbrella that was left in the Blue Cabin."

"I've told you already, that goddamned umbrella isn't involved in this. Yesterday, Ajiyama-san came to visit my cabin, and she left without taking it with her. It's that simple."

"But why would she leave without her umbrella?" Soushin asks. "It was pouring out, wouldn't she get drenched?"

"I was tense at the time. I snapped at her and made her leave." Matsuda says. "Maybe I rushed her out the door, but it was an innocent action."

"That doesn't sound innocent." Soushin sighs.

"Still, besides that." You say. "There's other evidence, since that story does match up with what Masuyo wrote in her notebook."

"You knew?!" Matsuda shouts. "You fucking bastard, why would you question me about something you knew already?"

"Calm down, please, you're only making yourself look guilty." Hiniwa says.

"Making herself look guilty?" You ask. "She is guilty, and she's trying to deny it."

"I'm not fucking guilty!" Matsuda yells. You don't believe her. After all, there's the other things too."

"Matsuda-san, hear me out here." You say. She scoffs. "Throughout the crime scene, there was a recurring piece of evidence, these small blue threads, possibly hairs, do you know anything about them?"

"Thread? Are you trying to convict me with thread?" She asks, the tone in her voice rising, if it could. " _Three_ of us here wear blue of some shade, and there are whole spools of it in the art room and you're trying to connect it to me specifically?"

"Well I couldn't have done it!" Soushin says. "I was dead asleep, you can ask monokuma!"

"Oh, you can ask me, but I won't say anything!" Monokuma teases. "A bears alibi cannot be trusted after all!"

"What does that even mean?!" Matsuda shouts, spinning around to face the bear. "What does all of this mean? Someone's trying to frame me, I didn't do it!"

"You should know I'm not allowed to say anything until you guys do the vote!" Monokuma says in a sing song. Things seem to be getting more intense by the second. Matsuda lets out a scream in frustration.

"I didn't do it! Why are you all accusing me?!" She shouts. You find it harder and harder to believe her.

You take a second to think.

The doorbell is ringing. You stand up to go to the door. It's probably just the mail. The landlady always goes around and delivers it to you from the mailbox. It's really not necessary, but it's sweet you guess. You open the door and she hands it to you with a smile.

It's a small stack of letters. A few of them are probably bills, or spam mail. You stop yourself from wishing part of the kindness the landlady did was to sort those out for you, because you understand she shouldn't. Your eyes stop on two envelopes, identical, both sealed with a red wax stamp. One of them is addressed to Masuyo, the other to you.

Yoshie runs around and snatches the stack of letters from your hands. You weren't expecting her to be awake right now, but you guess there's no reason she wouldn't. She catches the return address and reads it quickly, before shouting excitedly. You don't know what she's saying, but you manage to read the back of the envelope as she waves it in front of your face.

"Hope's Peak Private Academy" it says. You've heard of the place. It's the talk of the town. Yoshie shoves one of the letters into your hands and urges you to open it. She seems very excited for whatever reason, but she runs off saying something about Masuyo.

You tear off the end, and slide the paper which was inside, out into your hands, unfolding it slowly.

You snap back to reality. There's a trial going on.

"Well? Are you going to actually say anything, or are you done accusing me yet?" Matsuda asks. You've got to say something, you suppose, but you're not sure what. There really is no evidence for or against her. Maybe you're biased. Maybe your view is just twisted because of the small part of the file you read out of context. Matsuda continues speaking. "Oh, so you are done, we can get back on track now?"

The smile she gives off sets you back again. There's no way she's innocent with a smile like that.

"No, something's off about this." You say. "Matsuda-san, tell us what happened in the Blue Room."

"Why would you a-ask that? You know I c-can't do that." She says. "What are you t-trying to p-prove?"

"Masuyo's notebook stops saying what happened after the Blue Room." You say. "You've got to know something of what happened."

"Sh-she left, I d-didn't do anything, sh-she l-left, I th-thought she w-was going home." Matsuda seems afraid as she answers.

"What happened, Matsuda?" You insist. She doesn't have time to answer.

"Times up!" Monokuma shouts from his podium at the head of the room. "It's time to vote get to it!"

"How is time up?" Soushin asks. "There's never been a limit before, right?"

"Oh, there has, you guys have just never hit it before!" He says. "This one is just taking a  _reaaalll_ long time, you know?"

"We can't vote yet." You say. "We're not ready, we haven't figured it out!"

"Too bad, so sad." He laughs. "If you don't vote now then you'll be the one getting executed! So good luck guessing!"

You're kind of shocked, but there doesn't seem to be any other option. Even if she didn't do it, no one else is as suspicious. You vote for Matsuda. You don't know what anyone else does.

"Wow, that was a close one!" Monokuma says once the familiar sounds of victory say. "Only two of you voted for the real culprit, good thing that's majority now, right?"

"What do you mean?" Soushin asks. "Only two of us? Who did it then?"

"I'd get to the point faster if you didn't interrupt!" Monokuma snaps. "Anyways, tallying the votes here, we have, one for Hiniwa Masanori, one for Ajiyama Tsuneo, and oh look at this! Two for Matsuda Hana!"

"Me? But I d-didn't d-do it!" Matsuda says. "D-don't you s-see what you've done, w-we're all g-going to die now!"

"I wouldn't act so sure of yourself, when my cameras say otherwise!" Monokuma says. "So, thanks to this narrow win, you all get a spectacular treat! I've prepared a super duper extra special punishment for Super High School Level Time Travel Theorist, Matsuda Hana!"

"B-but, I d-didn't do it." Matsuda says, voice trembling, on the edge of tears. "I'm innocent, I didn't fucking do it!"

Her words of defense are silenced by monokuma, dragging her away.

You almost don't want to watch. Everything seems so quick, so rushed. Something is wrong.

But it's too late now.

There's no time left.

~

{Tick Tock Goes the Broken Clock}

What first appears to be only darkness lights up to reveal a room, vast and dim and gray. Matsuda stands alone at one end where the lights first turn on. She looks afraid and confused, a shared feeling.

Another two hanging lamps light up on the other end of the room. Below them lies a bunch of machinery, assembled in an unfamiliar formation.

Still, Matsuda's face lights up with recognition.

She starts at a running pace across the large room, stumbling a bit, tripping some, and almost falling, but she makes it eventually, and as a blur, she starts working on the machine.

There much have been working tools somewhere in the mess, because now she tightens bolts with a wrench, twisting pieces together with a small screwdriver, and a few larger ones. A hammer here, a circular saw there, it's a mess the way she darts around modifying things and putting pieces together and taking them apart. It's also loud, it's a wonder she can stand the noise considering most likely not all of it is even coming through the recording device.

In a few minutes it appears she's done, as she stands back and stares at the contraption with a glint of admiration in her eye. It towers, the top of it falling into the shadows above the low lighting in the large room. It definitely looks like, something. there's so many parts and pieces it's hard to tell what it could be, but there seems to be a chamber of sorts near the bottom, with glass windows, and a door. A small staircase leads up to it.

Matsuda climbs up the stairs, into the small glass room, and she shuts the door behind her. There's a rough view of what she's doing, moving a few dials, or flicking a few switches. There seem to be so many that it's like the inside of a spaceship. The most visible switch is a large red button, with the familiar black and yellow stripes of caution surrounding it.

Matsuda closes her eyes and whispers something inaudible while running her fingers along the edge of her scarf. Her eyes are closed. It looks almost like a prayer.

In one quick motion she slams her hand down on the very button which seemed so foreboding.

There's a bright white flash, and then

The sound and sight of the explosion fills the courtroom. You swear you even feel the ground shaking from the vibration. The sight wrecks through your mind and you think you remember something, but you try to focus back on the screen.

All there is, is carnage, smoking metal, piles of broken pieces burning still, their flames replacing the burnt out lights.

A lone ruined striped scarf falls slowly to the ground. It's singed on the edges.

~

Everyone left in the courtroom is stricken with shock. Which is to say, the three of you, barely enough to set off a body discovery announcement. Not enough, if one of you were to die.

The silence is broken by monokuma.

"It's nice to  _finally_ get rid of her, right?" He jokes. You don't find it funny, but you aren't the first one to object.

"How can you trivialize human lives like that?" Hiniwa shouts. It's possible the sound of the explosion is still ringing in his ears as it is yours. "Do they mean that little to you? Someone is bothersome and you just kill them? That's not how things should work, that's not how people should be treated!"

It takes you a few seconds to realize he's actually dropped his fake accent. His voice sounds much rougher this way.

"This isn't a game for us!" He says, small drops of water forming at the edges of his eyes not quite as quickly as he wipes them away. "I don't know how little you would have to think of us to say it is okay, because it's not. There is no logical reason for this. Despair? A bit of fun? Those are all bullshit! This is just a massacre, held without reason, to bring us all to slaughter."

"It's funny watching you do that, you know?" Monokuma says. Hiniwa seems to step back a bit, on guard, but still upset. "A little lost forlorn spy trying fruitlessly to stand up to the one controlling it. You have no idea how expendable you are to me really, you're lucky you've survived even this long. You were supposed to be the first victim, but the girl with the braid beat me to it. You're living on borrowed time. There's no use trying to be heroic with that."

You honestly don't know how to respond to that, so you keep quiet. Hiniwa is lost for words, but he's full out crying now, silently, but it's still there.

"Look, I'll give you all a chance, alright?" Monokuma says. "Something to look forward to, you could say."

"Wouldn't that just be taunting us?" Soushin asks. "What's the point? It's not like you'll actually let us out or anything."

"Yes, I guess you're right about that!" Monokuma says. "But here's this. I'm giving you my word, that no matter what, the next trial will be our last! Gather information while you can, you never know when time will be up!"

"What do you mean?" Hiniwa asks, his voice a small whisper.

"Well that's just for me to know and you to find out!" Monokuma taunts. He disappears from the courtroom. There's nothing actually stopping you from staying here. Still, it feels wrong to.

Something is still off.

END Chapter 5

3 students remain.

You received item, tattered scarf.

 


	29. Chapter Six: Demons Run, Demons Trip, Demons Fall: Deadly Life- Part 1

After the trial, they three of you linger in the dining hall for a while. It's hard to think about things right now; you can't stop dwelling on how much of an idiot you've been. After some prompting from Hiniwa and Soushin, you pull out the folder in order to look through it. It seems like a good idea to do so. Soushin looks over your shoulder while Hiniwa watches and listens while leaning against the table in the center of the room. It's hard for you to get through it. Being able to look through everyone's pasts like it's some sort of story just doesn't sit right with you. Soushin urging you along to read it out loud isn't exactly helping, either.

The files don't seem to have an order at first. Now that you have more time to look through, you notice that Matsuda's wasn't actually the first. Miyano's file was static stuck to the page with the archive password, and you make a note to check that out later as well. With those two on top, though, it seems like it's in backwards class order. It's not that weird, you suppose, but it means that yours should be at the very bottom, and Masuyo's right before it. You've got to read through the rest of it if you want to get to the good part.

There's nothing incredibly suspicious about Miyano's file, and to be honest you skim a bit through it because you're antsy to get to Matsuda's and have that phrase explained. Still, you can't skip Miyano's file entirely. All turns out to be is a few things about her voice acting career, results from a physical exam, and a simple portrait photo. It really just looks like a normal school file to contain information about the student. There's a little box at the bottom of the page that's labeled "risks". It mentions different actions that Miyano commonly did that are commonly frowned upon. Her laziness, love of junk food, and the like, and the possible consequences of these.

It doesn't really make sense to you. Your mind is kind of fuzzy right now.

"Hmmm, isn't that a little rude?" Soushin asks.

"What do you mean?" It's taking more than you expected it would to get used to Hiniwa's voice without the accent.

"Well, I mean, they're basically indirectly insulting her weight there, right?" Soushin says. "That's kind of rude."

You almost say something, but you don't want to accidentally start an argument somehow.

"Really I mean, why is she expected to be thin if it doesn't suit her?" Soushin asks. "It's really not fair to her."

"I don't think you're supposed to read into it that much." Hiniwa says. "Besides, she's dead anyways by now, so it doesn't matter."

It's kind of blunt, the way he puts it.

You turn the page in order to read Matsuda's file.

It has information about the 'tragic backstory' which you were sure was made up until now, as well as the various advances she's made in a field that sounds just as fake. There are a lot of technical terms you don't understand. You feel stupid. You continue reading under "risks".

It says that her weakened mental state and irrational tendencies might make it easier to fall under the influence of Super High School Level Despair. She won't trust anyone without prompting and proof they won't betray her, and might detach herself from the world around her if she's not grounded by something.

That seems to be about on point.

It continues on like that, next is Hensou, then Soushin. She seems excited that hers is next, but Hiniwa is visibly bothered by something. You don't think Soushin's file would upset him so much alone. You run over the class order in your head as you read mindlessly aloud. It skipped him. It skipped Hiniwa. He should have come after Hensou and before Soushin, but the files skipped him. Paging through the other pages discretely, it's not anywhere else in there either. Soushin pays close attention while you read to hear every detail the paper says about her, but your thoughts are occupied elsewhere. She seems so much more excited than either of you. She doesn't have the same dread.

But you keep reading. No one seems to be as interested in anyone else's files. Reading stories started by those who cannot finish them, not only does it not make sense, but it's a boring invasion of privacy.

Shiroju's file talks about his cult involvement, and Shibou's his distant and manipulative behavior.

Keina's, Kawada's, Kaisui's, they carry on like that. Odori's, Otsuka's Oshima's, even Emiline's, none of them contain anything interesting that you don't already know. Even Otsuka's real talent has been blotted out by someone in black ink. Everything in here, you already know it because you've been told, or because you noticed it while watching the person.

Hiniwa must have noticed your hesitation when it came time to turn Emiline's page.

"If you don't want to read it, you don't have to." He says. You don't respond. "I understand, really, I can just read it to Soushin another time, you don't even have to listen."

You turn the page decisively.

You almost recoil at the sight of her face again. It brings back good memories, but those ones just seem to taunt you.

Hiniwa takes the folder from you. You don't really stop him. You don't want to start conflict.

"Ajiyama Masuyo, age, sixteen, height: one hundred sixty-seven centimeters, weight: fifty-six kilograms, bust measurement, eighty-five centimeters, blood type, A, birth date, June fourteenth, Super High School Level Sociologist-"

"Huh, wait, are you sure that's right?" Soushin asks, stopping him.

"What do you mean?" Hiniwa questions. "I'm only reading what's written here."

"But, the talent, it doesn't sound right." Soushin says. "Ajiyama-chan, she never acted all sciencey or analytic or anything, so she couldn't have been something like that."

"I don't think you understand what a sociologist does," Hiniwa starts. You're only half paying attention. Their conversation doesn't interest you as much as finding out Masuyo's talent, or rather, remembering it. He said it so nonchalant, like it was something commonplace, to find such a big part of your memory to be missing, then have it suddenly filled back in.

You remember something, you think.

You remember remembering it during the trial.

Two letters coming in the mail, one addressed to Masuyo, and one to you. You'd just woken up, and Yoshie snatched the letters out of your hand. Masuyo had been dealing with some clients at the time, and Yoshie was urging you to open your letter. As soon as you had done so, she rushed off to Masuyo's office, in your apartment of course, interrupting the meeting.  
It was entirely out of line for Yoshie to do that, but you had been too shocked at the time to stop her. Shocked by what was inside your own letter. Masuyo had been angry at first, but excited once she heard the news. The two clients said that they didn't mind, but they were visibly bothered. It had been her acceptance letter to Hope's Peak, as the Super High School Level Sociologist, but you still can't remember what yours had said. What did it say?

Soushin waves her hand in front of your face. You feel awful, having zoned out again as soon as something important happened.

"Hey, are you paying attention?" Soushin asks. "You look pretty out of it. Don't go just leaving us like that."  
"Right, sorry." You say. "Where were we?"

"No, wait." Hiniwa says. "This might be a sensitive subject. It's his dead sister after all."

"It's fine." You insist, even though it's really not. He's still being so blunt about it.  _'Dead'_.

You listen as Hiniwa lists off different habits and discoveries that you already know about Masuyo, that you've only just remembered. Most of all, though, you notice when the file mentions you, which is often. You guess you would be important to Masuyo's life, but if she was that great you don't see why she spent so much time around you. You're stupid, worthless; you couldn't even solve a single trial right without her.

Hiniwa flips the page loudly and without warning. He continues reading without pause.

"Ajiyama Tsuneo, age, sixteen, height, one hundred seventy-seven centimeters, weight, sixty-nine kilograms, bust measurement, seventy-nine centimeters, blood type, A, birth date, June fourteenth, Super High School Level Psychologist."

"Oh, that's cute! You two matched!" Soushin says. You've stopped listening again. There's still pieces missing, but you're remembering a lot right now, all at once. It's a bit overwhelming, actually, very overwhelming. Like a floodgate suddenly opening to let the entire reservoir loose. It doesn't seem right that a point like this has been reached in just a casual conversation. Little false assumptions correct themselves to the truth.

You don't think it's the same kind of epiphany that Masuyo had though. She said that she remembered everything, but there are still distinctive gaps left in your mind. You wouldn't call this "everything" at all.

Something still feels off.

"Tsuneooo-chiii" Soushin says, shaking you a bit. "Where are you zoning out to? What are you thinking about in there?"

"I'm sorry," you say. "I have to go."

After excusing yourself, you stand up and promptly bolt out the door. You don't stop running for a while.

You never realized how relieving it had been to forget.

There's been no notification of anything new happening since the trial. Monokuma has disappeared completely. You're afraid to admit that you're afraid of falling into a pattern. You're afraid of being alone, but you can't stand to be around anyone right now. You know though that if you fall into repetition you'll never escape. Living here doesn't sound fun to you, despite all of the luxuries available.

You're not sure where you're running to. Somewhere far away, you hope. You close your eyes and just keep going. Actually thinking about anything just sounds bothersome right now. There's a false wind hitting your face, and you let it.

You stop suddenly and look up. The muscles in your legs are burning.

There's no way anyone could have noticed it just from the sky. Whether it's artificial or just glass, it's impossible to tell from the real thing, what you remember of it now, anyways. It's hard to believe that it's fake, but it's only hard because you're even more trapped here now.

There's no way out.

You start down forest path four. Past the junkyard and recording studio, now clean and spotless, past the trees and the long passageways to a large gray building. They had said it was locked before, but there's no use in not trying, not that you could do much.

A hard pull reveals that the door is extremely unlocked, throwing you off balance with the extra force you exerted.

The door is loud when it slams shut behind you. The sound bounces off of the walls, filling the large empty room. It's very dark.

There had been no windows visible from the outside, so you didn't expect any of those, but it would have made sense for there to be a light or something. The darkness is unsettling.

From what you can tell the room seems to fill the entirety of the building's shape from the outside. There is a strange smell in the air.

Your eyes adjust to the low lighting slowly, giving you a bit of vision to work with, enough to find some sort of switch on the wall near the door. You pull it without caution.

The light all across the room turn on slowly, and there's a buzzing sound from the old light bulbs. The fixtures hang low from the tall ceiling.

The room is familiar now, although you don't want to remember it. There are bits of burnt machinery everywhere, with the carnage of a main machine near the far end of the room. Something seems suspicious, though.

There's no blood.

Before, in all the execution areas, any blood spilled during the event would be left uncleaned, and with an explosion like that, there had to be something.

There's nothing left, though.

The area is spotless, besides what's left of the machine. You walk around it, inspecting it. You hear what sounds like a lock click, back at the entrance to the room.

A quick sprint back to the front door reveals you've been trapped. There's a note, barely visible in the flickering dim light.

"Turn around. Try the other end."

It's a bit cryptic, but you think you get the message. You travel back, past the machine, to the opposite end of the room. There is a single door here. A small plaque above it reads "secondary surveillance". It's unlocked.

You enter the room, to be greeted with at least 30 television screens with filtered lights broadcasting video feeds. It seems to be from around the forest, the security cameras.

There's a view of every room, and switches to turn the sound on for one room at a time.

The place is empty.

You guess if you had access to this room earlier, you would have been able to see more people walking around, but there's barely anyone now. You look around to catch the two remaining.

Soushin is in the White Cabin, messing with a few instruments set up there. The sound comes through fuzzy, but it's clear that she knows what she's doing, music wise. It's loud, and you wonder is the cabins are sound proofed enough that wouldn't have heard her when she's done this before. She's not actually playing a song, though, probably just tuning, so it's not that interesting.

Hiniwa is climbing the stairs of the main building. He's taken his sweater vest off, you notice, and you wonder if there's any ventilation in this room, because it's starting to get a bit warm. Hiniwa doesn't stop until he's reached the climax, the top of the stairs you mean, on the fourth floor, the one with the blue room, and the archive. He's got the file under his arm, carrying it. You see him flip it open to the first page, and glare at it as he steps over to the archive door. He enters the five digits one by one, and doesn't seem to flinch even a bit as the machine gun and the rest of the door ready themselves for any mistake he might make.

"8-9-4-6-7"

Your mind jumps to a second meaning to those numbers, maybe you had used the password before, that would explain figuring it out so quickly, at least.

"T-W-I-N-S"

Something beeps, a small red light flashes, and the door swings open. Hiniwa steps inside as the door shuts automatically behind him. You switch to watching the archive monitor.

He moves about as if he knows the place, checking things in cabinets here, and there. He glances back at the camera and throws a disgusted look. It takes you a moment to realize it's not actually directed at you.

He selects a particular folder, thick, with paper, from a cardboard box on a desk, and sets it down with a thud on the desk, pulling up a seat. He blows a heavy layer of dust off of the cover, and then opens it, to start reading.

This is actually really boring.

You try to continue watching for whatever reason, but you keep dozing off, so you end up deciding to leave the surveillance room after a fruitless endeavor.

You get up and turn to leave, only to find that the door is now stuck, or even worse, locked.

You never even heard it shut in the first place.

With a quick check, there's no signal on your eHandbook.

Shit.

Pulling on the door more won't do anything to help you, you quickly realize, so there's not much of anything you can actually do from here. Only the monitors are here to comfort you.

Hours pass, or at least you think so, it seems like that. Apparently without a signal, not even the clock on your eHandbook works. You are no less bored out of your mind than you were before you decided to leave, but now you are a lot more stressed.

You're an idiot, getting yourself into this situation, stuck behind two locked doors, away from the rest of the world. If Masuyo had been here this wouldn't have happened. If anyone had been here, this wouldn't have happened. It's all your fault, all your fault, all your fault. Your stomach has started to growl with hunger, and you're going to starve to death because you were an idiot and you got yourself locked up in here. You've stopped watching the monitors, accepting the fate gifted to you by your own stupidity.

The door flies open.

You rush out of the room while you can. There doesn't seem to be any cause for the door opening, it must have been automated once you met a certain status, or controlled remotely from long distance.

You walk quickly back across the large room, around the machine and the pieces of debris, and you leave the place for good when you find the other door unlocked as well. You vow to yourself to never go back there again.

Your eHandbook starts vibrating heavily with all the texts you missed while you were inside the building. You pull it out and look at them. There are more than fifty missed messages from Soushin, most of them around the same.

"06:07> hey, r u alrite? U stormed outta there pretty quickly.  
06:11> Tsuneo-chi, you can't just ignore me.  
06:14> srsly, r u ok?  
06:16> pls dont b murdered pls dont be murdered  
06:17> I dont think we could make it thru a trial w/o u, tusneo-chi"

They go on like that, generally not changing subject. You type a quick message back to quiet her nerves.

"07:49> I'm fine. There's no signal in the Locked Building."

That's sure to get a lot of responses back from her, but at least most of them will be relief. You'll be sure to read them all later, but you might not respond to each one.

There are fewer messages from Hiniwa, but the point of his worry comes through quicker.

"06:09> I'm going to use this code to investigate the higher floors.  
06:10> You're welcome to come with me if you want to.  
06:13> I see you're not responding. I know you're upset, but it's still rude.  
06:14> This is a rather large file, I could use some help getting through it.  
06:20> Fine then.  
07:19> What the hell did you do?"

That's, all there is. The time gap between the last two messages, and the content of the last one, they concern you. You don't know what you did, besides going and getting yourself trapped in a trapped in a very small room for over an hour without a signal.

Human relations are a lot of work.

You check the large locked door quickly to make sure it didn't get unlocked too. But it is still extremely locked, and therefore useless, you like you.

Okay, those two weren't really related.

Well, you've finished your small investigation of the area, for what it's worth.

You decide to catch up with Hiniwa. Climbing the stairs doesn't take long. You've already memorized the password somehow. You enter it without batting an eye.

"89467"

The door opens and you step inside. The room isn't any different from how it looked on camera. Hiniwa is gone, he isn't in here. The file he was looking at lies open on the table. It's turned to a certain page. The heading reads "Games of mutual killing". There are a collection of vague generalizations of groups here, including "the 78th class", and "Remnants of Super High School Level Despair". Those two are under a subheading that read "Enoshima". None of it sounds familiar, although, below those two, there's another list of four groups exactly, with the subheading "Matsuda".

That's  _very_ familiar.

There are page numbers next to everything. This is an index, apparently. You decide you can come back to it later.

There's a door on the same wall as the one you just came through, near the other end of the room. You leave through there. It shuts behind you.

You find yourself in the glass room, previously unattainable because of the lack of a door. There is a door, you see now. It's openable by pushing from this side on a push bar. You wonder if you could catch the door and enter while someone else was leaving. Monokuma probably wouldn't like that.

You head up the stairs. There isn't anywhere else to go except the unlabelled white door, which also lacks a handle.

The stairs aren't so bad.

The next floor also has two rooms, one on each side, which seems to be a pattern now, although one of the two rooms seems to be significantly bigger than the other. There are noises coming from the larger room, suspicious noises.

You enter the large room, which appears to be a bigger version of the surveillance room you just spent an hour and a half (almost two) trapped in. Hiniwa is tapping away at a keyboard, which seems to be doing things to the screen in front of him. He doesn't notice you at first.

This room looks like it used to be some sort of faculty office, there are desks and chairs all set up with computers. The chairs are scattered about around the room. You're tempted to take one and roll around the room and spin a bunch.

But that would be stupid.

You approach Hiniwa from behind. He's completely immersed in whatever it is he's doing, and he jumps when you tap him on the shoulder.

"What do you want?" He asks. He looks tense.

"Weren't you the one who invited me here?" You ask. You chose your words carefully. You don't want him to be angry with you. That would ruin the point of this entirely. He looks confused at your statement at first before he realizes.

"Oh, right, that." He sighs, and then turns back to the monitors. "How did you get through to the stairs?"

"Through the archive. It wasn't that hard of a password to remember, even for me." You say. He's looking at something, but it's hard to see the screen without leaning over practically on top of him.

"Riiight." He says in response to you, albeit a minute or so later, so it might have been about something else. "Look, are you just going to stand around there forever or?"

You take one of the office chairs and sit down as casually as possible.

"Well there's not much else to do, is there?" You ask tentatively. "You're not talking that much. It's hard to carry a conversation that's just a monologue."

"There are many people who would disagree with you." He says. "Yours isn't the only outlook on life, you know."

"I know." You say, but you don't understand why him saying that is relevant.

There are a few more minutes of silence where only the tapping of keys can be heard. You look around at the different video feeds. You can't seem to find Soushin with that cursory glance. She's okay though, you tell yourself.

"Did you notice?" Hiniwa asked, drawing your attention back from wandering the room. "The morning announcement didn't play at seven like it should have."

"No, I didn't notice." You say. "I was in the Locked Building. There weren't any monitors in there at all. I guess we can't call it the Locked Building anymore though."

"Wait, you were where?" He asks, turning away from the monitor again, intrigued. "Did you find anything in there? Did it look important?"

"It was Matsuda's, you know..." You say. You hope he gets the message without you having to say it explicitly. He was always kind of clever. "At the back of the building there was a small room like this one. I got locked in there for about two hours without a signal on my eHandbook."

"You got locked in there?" He asks, then laughs a little. "I'm sorry, that's just hilarious. How on earth did you manage to let that happen?"

"Can we just get back on track?" You sigh.

"Right, the announcement." He says. "Do you think something's up with monokuma?"

"When is something not up with monokuma?" You joke.

"Nice try, smartass." He says. "If something is different about what he's doing, then we need to take advantage of it. We're on limited time now."

"Limited?" You ask. He answers quickly as if expecting your confusion.

"None of us can cook." Oh, well you suppose that is a problem. "If we're lucky, monokuma won't lock us out of that store, if we're not, then he'll get rid of all the ready-made food."

"Do you really want to be giving me ideas?" Monokuma asks. You almost shriek, but you stop yourself. "You're quite the clever boy, Hiniwa-chan, but you must be more foolish than you look if you say things like  _that_ out loud."

"Don't make it sound so lewd." Hiniwa sighs.

"I think I'll take you up on your offer, though!" Monokuma says. "It's a great idea! If I do  _steal_ so myself."

"That pun was quite a stretch." Hiniwa comments.

"Like I care." Monokuma replies. "What really matters is that now I'm getting rid of all ready to eat food! Don't worry, though. I'll leave you some dangerous raw meat, and plenty of poisons. I'd hate to get rid of that advantage."

"You'd hate to do anything except drive us to murder." Hiniwa says. "Oh well, are you done? We can tell Soushin-san for you, so don't worry about her."

"You ruin all my fun, why did the mastermind have to choose you anyways?" Monokuma sulks. "I guess they had no choice, though. It's just how things are."

He disappears again after that, and you realize you're still not used to it.

"Good job, 'genius'." You sigh, glaring at Hinwia. He smiles and laughs a bit, almost as if to say 'oops'. "Okay, well, you were talking about this before, you must have thought of some way to deal with it."

"Possibly."

"Then what is it?"

"We have probably less than a week to live."

END Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You might have already noticed, but I've started posting chapters to the sequel to this fic here; http://archiveofourown.org/works/3975412 . Go ahead and check it out! And don't worry about starting reading it before this story is finished, it won't make a difference.


	30. Chapter Six: Demons Run, Demons Trip, Demons Fall: Deadly Life- Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A longer chapter. I would have loved to split it up into smaller pieces and spread it out more, but then we would have ended up with a bunch of less than 1k chapters with barely anything happening in them, so enjoy!

"We have probably less than a week to live." Hiniwa's words are a shock to you at first, and it takes you a moment to realize he  _did_ just say that, and you aren't imagining things. He continues speaking. "This is taking into consideration the fact that that I do not know the current status of our water supply. So, I would suggest not putting off finding an escape route."

"We have an escape route." You say. "It's just the matter of unlocking it."

"Do you really have to be so pessimistic about it?" He says, but you don't get what he means. "We should find Soushin-san, and tell her, though. Where did she get off to?"

Hiniwa presses a combination of letters into the keyboard, which he hasn't really moved from. Something pops up on screen, a video feed probably.

"Oh, well would you look at that." He says.

"I can't see."

"Move over then, would you?"

You scoot your chair closer to the screen. Hiniwa moves out of the way some, but not so much that you aren't still pressed closer together.

Soushin is on the screen. She's at foodmart. She seems to be searching for the entrance, which won't open. It's covered in police tape. She can't see that, though.

"I'll go help her." You say.

"I'll come with you then, I'm done here." He says. He pulls a white spherical thing out of his pocket. It seems to have the pointy bit of a key sticking out of it.

"What's that?" You ask.

"The missing doorknob." He replies. "It's supposed to be used so we don't have to go through the archive every time we want to get up to this floor. I found it in the glass room the first time I went through there."

"Do you think it'll work?" You ask.

"Even if it doesn't, we can still use the key code obviously, since you were able to use the same code that I did." He says.

You leave the surveillance office, go down the stairs, through the glass room (pausing momentarily to check that yes, the knob does indeed work), down more stairs, until you've reached the base of the main building. It would be a good idea to check the status of whatever food is left in the kitchen, but it's a better idea to alert Soushin first.

It's a short walk down forest path 2.

She's still beating around, trying to find the gap in the glass walls where the door opens. You call out to her.

"Hey Soushin!" You say. She turns towards your voice.

"Tsuneo-chi!" She says, smiling widely. "Hey, do you know what's up with this building? The doors won't open, but they're automatic, right?"

"Well, about that..." Hiniwa says. Soushin jumps up in surprise almost.

"Masa-chan! You're here too?" She asks. "I didn't notice you."

"Masa-chan?" Hiniwa questions. "I'm sorry, what?"

"It's a nickname, silly." Soushin supplies. "See, Masanori is your given name, right? So we just chop off the end and add a cute honorific. You've never had a nickname before?"

"It's not that, it's just, when did we become so informal?" HIniwa asks.

"Stop being such a stick in the mud." Soushin sighs. "Look, we know each other well enough, and I get bored of calling people by their surnames pretty quickly. Can we move on? What was it you wanted to say, Masa-chan?"

Hiniwa still seems bothered by the nickname.

"The doors to foodmart won't be opening any time soon." You fill in for him. "Monokuma made a motive for us."

"A motive?" Soushin asks, laughing uncomfortably. "It's chapter six, there's only three of us left, how can there be a motive when there wasn't even one last time?"

"There's no time to be wasted worrying about it." Hiniwa says. "Monokuma, he's cut off our food supply. There's no telling how long it will be until we starve."

"Wait, did you say 'starve'?" Soushin asks. She's only gotten more unsettled. "There's got to be some kind of food or water, right? He can't just leave the possibility of us all dying due to something other than murder. Wait, but there's not even supposed to be a murder this chapter!"

"I say we use whatever time we have left to find another way out." Hiniwa says.

"How is there any guarantee that there is another way out?" Soushin says. She's started panicking. You try to move to comfort her, but she starts shouting, grabbing clumps of her hair frantically. "How can I trust you in the first place? You're not one of us, you're a spy! You'll just lead us to an even worse fate!"

She rushes off, and you start to run after her, but Hiniwa grabs your shoulder to stop you, holding you back.

"That went worse than expected." You say, exasperated.

"Agreed."

 

After Soushin runs off, you and Hiniwa stay and chat for a bit, and decide the best course of action currently is to inspect the kitchen in the dining hall to see how much food you do actually have. You text Soushin to invite her. She doesn't respond.

The dining room feels empty and airy, but it's skipped over quickly en route to the kitchen, which actually, isn't much better.

All the cupboards, the pantry, they're empty, not a crumb to be seen. They've been wiped clean.

The fridge isn't much better, although it has some things, there's only mystery meat. Lots of poultry and raw meat which is dangerous to eat without being cooked first. It's mocking your lack of culinary skill. If only the Super High School Level Chef were here.

There's alcohol too, stored in one of the fridges, (which you're pretty sure isn't the proper storage). There's wine, beer, vodka, even sake. You don't know the effects of any of these, as in whether they would help dehydration or make it worse. You know that you have a lightweight family history, too, but you're not sure about the other two.

All of the utensils and cooking tools are still set up, ready to use, if only you knew how.

"Hiniwa-kun, you can't cook?" You ask, trying to start some conversation during your search.

"I know, right, I seem like the type who could." He sighs in response. "But I'm completely useless in the kitchen. I can't do anything except burn everything involved, even the pots and pans."

"Some people like their food well done." You joke.

"Not when it's charred into a black powder." He doesn't take it well.

The room is silent for a few seconds. It feels like an eternity.

"Maybe if I had been allowed into the kitchen when I was a kid I would have done better." He sighs, breaking the silence.

"You weren't even allowed in?" You ask, shocked.

"I was never permitted to leave my room, the kitchen was out of the question." He says. "All my food was delivered to me by a slot in my bedroom door. Not that it didn't taste good, of course. It's funny, when I first tasted Matsuda-san's cooking it reminded me of that."

"Isn't that some kind of abuse?" You ask, still stuck on his living situation. "It had to have had some sort of psychological effect on you."

"You would be the one to bring that up now, wouldn't you." He laughs, and you're reminded of the discovery of your talent earlier today. "But I'm not sure, really, it's just how things were. I've never thought about it much. But, back to our current situation, we shouldn't worry about my childhood at a time like this."

You want to argue against that, but he looks uncomfortable on the subject, so you leave it.

"Well, we've got something here, right?" You say. "There's things here we might be able to cook and eat if we're extremely lucky, and some sort of supply of liquid. It's got to help something somewhat."

"I'm not sure if decreasing the function of my cognitive processes is worth it if I'm only prolonging an eventual unfavorable end, or what I want to be doing here." He slips back into the accent some, but stops himself.

"You don't have to drink enough to get drunk." You say, and you can't believe you're seriously discussing this. "Just a little bit, enough to keep yourself from dying of dehydration."

"Right," he says apprehensively. "Look, don't think I can't see what you're trying to do."

"And what would that be?" You say, feigning an innocence which is actually very real.

You try not to think about what happens next.

(But whatever it is, it leaves you frazzled and wanting more.)

You leave the kitchen and the dining hall once you finish your investigation of the food that's left. It's no less disappointing than it was at first.

You part ways with Hiniwa for a while, and go to find Soushin.

You guess it would be quicker to go back to one of the surveillance rooms and use the cameras to find Soushin, but that feels like an invasion of privacy. It'll take longer, but it's worth it to go around looking on foot.

You decide to check the White Cabin first, it seems likely, at least, and you're lucky enough to find her there, your first try, maybe you are good for something. She opens the door only a crack.

"Who's there?" She asks. "What do you want?"

"It's me, Ajiyama."

"Tsuneo-chi?"

"Yeah, 'Tsuneo-chi'." You say. She opens the door and rushes you inside.

"Masa-chan isn't with you, right?" She asks. She seems to be peering around and behind you.

"No, he's doing something else right now." You say.

"Good, then." She relaxes. "I can't help but be a bit suspicious of him, you know? You're okay, though."

"What makes me any better?" You ask, moving around the cabin to sit down on her bed. It's a bit of a challenge with all the instrument cases piled all over the floor.

"I get a better vibe from you, I don't know." She says. "I just hope he doesn't start rubbing off on you."

You adjust your shirt collar upwards some to hide a red mark there.

"Oh, did you need me for something?" Soushin asks. "Since you were the one who showed up and all."

"I wanted to make sure you were okay." You say. "After the whole food thing you seemed kind of upset."

"I'm fine." She says. It probably doesn't sound as honest as she's hoping. "I just needed to cool off some. I'm sure we'll find a way to escape before we starve."

The way she says the word "starve" makes it sound like it's caught in her throat, like she doesn't want to admit the possibility.

"Anyways, we should get to work on that, right?" She continues. "There's no time to waste."

"That's the spirit." You say, trying to encourage her gently. "Do you have any ideas?"

"No," she sighs, losing immediately her determined demeanor, which she held only moments ago. "What about you?"

"Not really." You admit. "There just aren't any obvious solutions to this problem."

"We really  _are_ going to starve." She says, losing momentum by the second. "Tsuneo-chi, what are we going to do?"

"Conserve energy, I guess." You say. "There's still a bit of food, some raw meat, some of the fridges have wine and stuff."

"I'm not sure things like that will actually help much." She says. "I don't any of us can cook the meat, and it's really not a good idea for you boys to get drunk."

"Wait, us two?" You ask. "What about you?"

"Don't you know? It's been proven that people with light blue eyes have naturally better constitutions!" She laughs. "And I'm pretty sure I've got the lightest blue eyes on earth."

"That might be a bit of an exaggeration." You say.

"Since when have I not used exaggeration in everyday speech?" She asks."The point is that I could outlast either of you any day."

"I might just have to take you up on that challenge." You say. She laughs.

"I'm not sure that's the best idea." She smiles. "But, sure, I'd take you on. Just give me a time and a place."

"Maybe  _after_ we escape." You say. "There are more important things to be worrying about right now, maybe, probably."

"It's the end of the world, Tsuneo-chi. You've got to learn to relax a little."

You don't want to admit to it being the end of the world, though.

You spend a little while longer making small talk with Soushin before you leave her cabin so you can be alone and think for a bit. You haven't had time to do that recently for some reason.

You retire to your cabin and rest while continuing to think, about a lot of things. The dome, the locked door, the archive, the surveillance rooms. A lot of things have been discovered recently. There's no reason not to be worried about what's about to happen.

You wake up later having fallen asleep. The clock says it's just past six. Plenty of time has been wasted today, then. Your stomach grumbles. It's what woke you up, you think.

Sorry, no food today.

You guess you could try cooking. No one would die from it, and it might be awfully bland or something, but you doubt you could kill someone with it.

It's worth a try, then.

You walk to the kitchen with a hopeful mindset. If you can figure this out, then the motive will be ruined, monokuma be damned.

Most of the ingredients monokuma  _has_ left around are spices, like salt, pepper, a few things you don't recognize, and uncooked mystery meat. Maybe things will be less bland than you thought, at the very least. The bird-looking thing you chose after a bit of deliberation is already butchered too, into three nice pieces. You don't actually know what they're called, or if this even is chicken like you think it is, but it looks like it.

A frying pan sounds good, you've seen Masuyo use one before to cook things. It's a lot heavier than you expected.

You turn the heat on, then put the first piece in the pan with a bunch of spices. At least, you hope these are spices, and that that knob does turn the heat on. You are honestly very confused.

Do not try this at home.

You poke the meat with a fork. It moves a little. Maybe you should, move it around some? You do that, and manage to flip it onto the other side. You put some more of the mysterious spices on it. There's a sizzling noise. Maybe that's good.

You do the same thing to the other two pieces. Nothing explodes, or burns, so you consider this a success. Mysterious chicken for all.

You message Hiniwa and Soushin, asking them to come to the dining hall, not mentioning the food, which is probably worse than you think. It is a bit overcooked in some places, but you checked the center. That looked cooked. You're not sure. It's hard to tell.

Hiniwa arrives first, and immediately grimaces at the steaming plate of shit you assume the food must look like to him.

"What the  _hell_ is that?" He nearly shouts.

"I thought I would try to cook." You say. "With what little food we have and all it can't be all that good, but-"

"Why on earth would you do that?" He snaps. You didn't expect such a displeasant reaction. "You could have burned down the whole building, or something even worse, you could have died!"

"But I didn't." You shrug. He sighs. Soushin bursts loudly through the door. She's carrying a trombone, making noises that sound nothing like music. She pulls the instrument away from her mouth to speak.

"You needed me?" She asks, grinning widely. She tilts her head around the room, obviously trying to make an observation when you don't respond. She notices Hiniwa. "Aw man, Masa-chan is here? I was gonna have Tsuneo-chi slam the oven door."

"I have no idea what you're referencing." Hiniwa says.

"That's okay, I guess." Soushin sighs. "At least I get a good laugh out of the idea. Hmm, there is a reason we're here though, isn't there?"

"Ajiyama-kun has made an attempt at cooking." Hiniwa explains before you can speak up.

"You don't have to say it like that." You say. "I did actually cook successfully, compared to most times."

"I'm not going to eat that mess." He says. "So, I'm not counting it as a 'success'."

"Come on, Masa-chan!" Soushin says. "It's worth a try at the very least. I'll take a piece. Oh, tell me what it is though, first."

"I think it's chicken." You say. "I added a few spices, and put it in a frying pan until it looked done."

"An inventive technique!" Her comment seems forced. It doesn't sound like a real compliment, yet still she marches purposefully over to the table, where you set out a few utensils next to the plate with the food on it. She then dexterously picks up a knife and fork, slices off a small bite and brings it to her mouth. It's a very graceful procedure. It doesn't prepare you as you wait for her response.

Her face slowly contorts into an expression of complete disgust. She swallows though, that's good, you think.

"I'm not eating this." She says, setting the silverware back on the table. "You guys probably shouldn't either. Tsuneo-chi, stick to your strengths."

"I tried to warn you." Hiniwa says. "I'm not even sure that mess is food. I can't believe you kept it down."

"The skill comes from experience." Oddly enough, Soushin isn't boasting when she says that. She looks sick. You feel incredibly guilty.

"Look, you don't have to pretend it's better than it actually was." You say. "I know I'm a bad cook, so it wouldn't be an insult I couldn't take."

"Really, I have a strong constitution." She says. "I'll be fine as long as you don't try to do that again."

"Right," you sigh.

It seems your plan was a failure. At least you tried.

You are the first to take the opportunity to dump your masterpiece into the trash.

Maybe one day.

Hiniwa leaves the dining hall. You hope he wasn't too bothered by your efforts to amend the situation. Soushin stays behind and yawns before speaking up.

"Tsuneo-chi, where have you been all day, anyways?" She asks. "You can't have spent all that time working on the food. That'd be like ten hours of work for a single piece of mystery meat."

"I thought it was chicken." You mumble.

"That was  _not_ chicken." She responds.

"I was actually sleeping during the day, though." You say, skipping back to the first topic. "I rest better during the day, and function better at night, so I normally sleep during the day."

"Your sleep schedule is in ruins." Soushin says. "What happens if you have to go somewhere during the day? Do you just skip sleeping?"

"Basically." You reply.

"You're a mess." She sighs. "How did someone like you get a talent like 'Psychologist'? It really doesn't suit you that well."

"I still can't exactly remember anything, so I couldn't tell you." You say. "But I guess maybe it shows itself in less obvious ways."

"You were always looking around at everyone during meals." She laughs. "I'm sure you had some sort of mental notepad taking down the little things we did while we ate."

That is true, actually, but you don't admit it out loud. You just laugh instead. You tend to observe a lot of people, actually, taking note of the little things that they do. You never thought it was significant, or even really thought consciously that you were doing it, or of what the implications of those habits were. You guess you still did it, though.

Soushin snaps her fingers in front of your face, calling you back from your thoughts.

"Hey! Did you hear me?" She asks. "You zoned out there. Are you  _sure_ you function better at night?"

"I'm sure." You say. "I was just thinking about something. What was it you said?"

"It was nothing important." She brushes it off. You're still curious.

It's silent for a bit. You're hungry. You haven't eaten since yesterday, during the supposed "raid" of foodmart, and the day before that, when Masuyo taught you how to use the microwave.

That's kind of sad to think about, so you decide not to.

The two of you lean against the table in silence, comfortable silence, but silence all the same. Soushin suddenly starts moving to the kitchen. You watch her, curious as to what she's doing.

She comes back out carrying a few bottles of mysterious liquid between her fingers. It's obviously all alcohol, that's all that's left.

"Tsuneo-chi, let's all three of us go to the bathhouse; have some fun before we can't anymore." She says. "I know we're underage, but who's gonna stop us, right?"

"I'm not sure if that's a good idea." You say. "Something bad might happen."

"You don't have to drink." She says, while setting her collection down on the table and uncorking a bottle. She brings it to her lips and takes a swig. "But I'm going to anyways."

She tosses one of the bottles at you. The label is in English, or French, or something. You can't read it.

"Come on, Tsuneo-chi," she says. "What else is there to do?"

For some reason you agree.

Soushin is able to rope Hiniwa into joining you, if only to keep the two of you from hurting yourselves, but his resolve doesn't last long.

Somehow you wind up in the warehouse, doing fake swordfights with swords that are all too real. Luckily no one gets hurt.

You just keep drinking. It doesn't taste good, and you know you shouldn't be doing this, but it's hard to stop, to let any of this stop, because everyone is happy and having fun, and you can't stop that. You don't want to. It helps you forget the pain, forget what's happening to you.

You can't exactly remember everything that happens.

The three of you stumble around the place, looking at things, doing what interests you. You think you eventually wind up in the bathhouse unexplained and pass out there, but it's hard to tell.

But you think that's what happens because you wake up in the bathhouse with sweat dripping down your face and an awful headache that leaves your thoughts foggy. You can't quite remember your dream, though you can tell the ending was enough of a shock to wake you up. The water around you is tinted with various liquids, and surprisingly, it's cold.

You, for some reason, still have half your clothes on. They're soaked, and you figure you should head back to your cabin in order to change into a new set, but even the thought of moving makes your head hurt more.

No one else is in the room. It's eerily quiet. That at least helps.

You gather what dry clothing you can find and head out of the bathhouse. Outside, forest path 2 isn't any louder than the interior of the building. You hear the wind whistling quietly by the leaves of the trees.

There's no rush, and you find yourself being kind of tired, so you walk back at your own pace, taking your time. You reach the clearing which holds foodmart and stare at it wistfully. If only you could reach the inside of that store again.

Wait.

The police tape is gone.

You run, full of hope, to the doors, to find that they do, in fact, open when you step in front of the sensor. The doors are unlocked again. You dash through the store, picking up different items along the way. It's only been a day, technically, but you decide that this calls for a feast anyways. It's a bit extravagant and extreme.

You decide there's nothing better to help a hangover than snack foods. At the time, you don't bother to think about why foodmart might be open, just continue eating and being glad that it is. You take mouth-filling bites from a variety of breads and cakes that are all delicious. You keep a few for later, and finish the journey back to your cabin.

You take a quick shower before changing into fresh dry clothes. The steam clears your head a bit, and it helps you to breathe.

You check the clock. It's the morning now, some time after the morning announcement, about seven thirty. Maybe it was what woke you up, but you hadn't realized at the time.

You continue eating some of the breads, and take out your funplane again. It's easier to concentrate with a full stomach. The game is a lot scarier after the haunted house, though.

Looking out the window, the place has dried up already in a lot of places after all that rain, but in some places, especially along the edges of the trees, it's still damp. You wonder if small lake is still flooded. You never stopped to check. Your sneakers are caked with mud, over by the door.

It's still very quiet.

Other than the background music and sound effects from the game, you can't hear anything. You pause and set it down, to listen for a few seconds.

Maybe it's the smaller number of people, you've gotten used to there being a lot of them milling about, whether here, or back at your old apartment. Without them now it feels empty. Maybe it's all in your head.

You think about the graveyard. You only actually went there yourself once, but Masuyo would always tell you about it. She seemed especially excited about the different quotes on the gravestones most of the time. You wonder what hers would have been, but you think it would only make you sad if you went there.

Besides, you've got a message on your eHandbook apparently. You should probably check it.

There are a couple new messages. Hiniwa's is more recent, so you check it first.

"07:58> You should probably come see this.  
07:59> On fourth floor, Glass Room.  
07:59> I would hurry if I were you"

You exit out of the conversation. Whatever it is, it can probably wait. You don't see what could be so important. You quickly reopen it and type "later", before going to look at what Soushin said, but what you see causes you to freeze. You're not even sure if you're still breathing.

"Tsuneo-chi, im sorry 4 tricking u, but i had 2 make sure u wouldnt try 2 stop me. im not very smart, so ive decided 2 help n the only way i can. i plan 2 kill myself so monokuma will take back the motive and u 2 can get out. hopefully this note will make the trial easier. Good Luck! "

Suddenly the food in your stomach doesn't sit so well. There's a new image message from Hiniwa. You feel like you can tell what it is from the caption, so you don't look.

"08:02> You really should see this."

You bolt out of your cabin, leaving the door hanging open behind you. The wind rushes past your face as you run towards the main building, and then take the steps two at a time.

The door to the glass room is hanging open. The doorknob is still stuck in it, the small white sphere of a doorknob, tainted with another color.

Hiniwa is standing there, but on the floor.

Your heart stops.

The announcement does not play.

There aren't enough people left.

END Part 2

2 Students remain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unapologetic


	31. Chapter Six: Demons Run, Demons Trip, Demons Fall: Deadly Life- Part 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nearly six months in the making! You may notice this has been posted at a completely different time than usual, simply because once I finally finished it, I couldn't wait to get it out! Almost three times normal chapter length, with a lot of spoilers for Dangan Ronpa, Super Dangan Ronpa 2, and Dangan Ronpa Zero! Read at your own risk! Hope you enjoy after this long hiatus!

You're still standing there, staring, waiting for the announcement which will not come. Three people have to find the body. Three. There aren't three people, not alive.

You really think you're going to be sick.

You can't help it. You really should be used to it by now, but you're not. Especially not with it being Soushin. She's gone and you can't help it at all.

It's just like everyone else.

Kaisui, Emiline, Otsuka, Hensou, Miyano, Odori, Oshima, Masuyo, and now Soushin. Somehow these kinds of deaths always seem worse than the executions. The fact that it was one of you, and not monokuma's silly contraptions.

It's just so much worse.

"Is she really dead?" You ask, even though you know it's true.

"Yes, I've checked her pulse." Hiniwa says. You notice a bit of blood on his hand; it'd be hard to avoid that happening with this kind of scene. "You can too, if you don't believe me, but really, why wouldn't you?"

"I don't particularly want to." You admit. There's a pause for a second. "What do we do? If monokuma doesn't do an announcement, what _can_ we do?"

"I'm glad you asked!" Monokuma says. You don't feel like putting up with his happy disposition. "The truth is, I don't really care! As long as we have a trial and either party gets executed, I win! I win! I win! I win! Oh, I can't wait to tell everyone else that I've won! They'll be so upset, but there's no way they can catch up to me now!"

"Stop it." You say. "Whatever game you're playing, it doesn't matter to us. Even if you've won, we're going to take you down and get out of here. It's what Soushin would've wanted and-"

"Can you cool it with the inspiring hero speech?" Monokuma asks. "It's super boring. I'm actually here to tell you something important! But if you drone on like that I'll forget, so I won't be able to tell you, and then you'll be left clueless! That would be horrible, now, wouldn't it?"

"The thing you're trying to tell us," Hiniwa says. "It's not just the monokuma file, is it?"

"Well, no." Monokuma says. "I'm still going to give you the file though, you would be so lost without it, but I'm actually talking about something much bigger!" Monokuma pauses, probably for dramatic effect. "You see... This is the final class trial!"

You half expect confetti to fall from the ceiling when he says that. Monokuma would be the type to do that.

"And your point is?" Hiniwa asks. "What exactly makes this trial so different from all the other murder trials we've done before? So much that you had to announce it?"

"You know I'd get to the point a lot quicker if you would stop interrupting." Monokuma says. "Because the point is, anyone who survives this trial escapes! Doesn't matter if you're guilty or innocent, if you get things right or wrong, whoever survives gets out! It's a really cool and new idea, right? What a good deal! It's yours now, if you meet one condition!"

Monokuma pauses as if waiting for someone to ask about the condition. He then huffs angrily.

"Well, aren't you going to ask what the condition is?" He demands.

"You told me not to interrupt." Hiniwa says. "But fine, what is this 'condition' that we have to meet to escape?"

"Upupupu, I'm glad you asked." Monokuma laughs. Hiniwa sighs in response. "You see, you have to find the culprit this time as well! Not that that will be easy or anything, this time it's actually _pretty_ complicated. No, but you have to find out every little detail about your situation! How did the dome get here? What are your actual connections to Hope's Peak Academy? Why are you here now instead of at that school? Who's the mastermind? Why did they do it? These are just a few of the questions that you'll be asked during this fantastic final trial of fate! And if you get those last two out, I might even show my face to you guys!"

It sounds like some kind of advert.

"Anyways, here's the monokuma file!" Monokuma says. "If you're lucky, you'll find some of the other materials that I've left around for you."

Monokuma leaves. You start to read the monokuma file. Hiniwa does the same.

"<Monokuma File 6>  
Victim: Soushin Ritsu  
Time of Death: About 7:30 AM  
Place of Death: Glass Room  
Cause of Death: Poisoning  
Other Notes: Moments before death, the victim was stabbed in the stomach. She was slightly intoxicated at the time of death."

[Monokuma File 6 was added to the truth bullets]

"Something doesn't seem right about this." You say.

"Hm? What is it?" Hiniwa responds.

"I can't quite put my finger on it." You say. You're lying. You know exactly what's wrong here.

Soushin was committing suicide, and with the knife being in her hand right there, and the stomach wound, it's pretty obvious how she planned to do it. The poisoning as the cause of death is very suspicious. You assume she didn't send the message to Hiniwa. It was pretty personal, and she never liked him that much. You don't plan on telling him.

The only poison you've dealt with so far is the Diaspara Toxin. It's been used multiple times in completely separate murders. There's no reason another new poison would show up out of the blue when that one has been used before with effective methods. You just don't see why the culprit would use anything else. So, since it must be the Diaspara Toxin, it was given to her at the time of death, or eighteen hours beforehand. 1:30 in the afternoon, yesterday. Both of those times you were asleep, you know that, but you don't know what Hiniwa was doing at those times.

[Diaspara Toxin has been added to the truth bullets]

You want to trust Hiniwa, you really do, but with only the two of you left alive, everything points to him. It's not a suicide, and monokuma wouldn't have given you the file if he or the person controlling him had done it themself. It has to be one of the two of you, and you just don't remember killing her. You can't think of any other possibility.

You still have a lot of investigating to do to prove it, though, and to figure out the rest of the stuff monokuma claims that you'll be quizzed on.

It takes a bit to concentrate yourself.

You decide to investigate the body first.

She would have looked so peaceful in death with the positioning of her body, if not for the look on her face. She looks shocked, like she realized something was going wrong as soon as she, well, you don't want to finish that thought.

You wish this were fiction so that some kind of magic could bring her back, or that Emiline were still alive so she could revive her like she planned to do for herself. Neither of those things are true, though. This isn't some fantasy land. She won't come back.

The stomach wound is sickening to look at, but you don't have much of a choice.

The knife is still near her hand, covered in her blood, and whatever else might have gotten into the mixture. It's a simple knife. It looks like something from the warehouse. Maybe she took it last night while you weren't looking, too concerned with your fake swordfights to pay attention. You'll have to check there later.

[Warehouse Knife has been added to the truth bullets]

Oh wait, the actual body. Stop avoiding the subject, get down to business already.

The color is drained from her face. No, no. It's not her face you're worried about. You already went over that. You've got to pay attention to the rest of her.

Oh god there's a lot of blood, most of it seems to be coming from the one stomach wound, but you don't see why there would be so much. Maybe an increased heart rate?

[Excessive Amount of Blood has been added to the truth bullets]

There don't seem to be many signs pertaining to the actual cause of death, or rather, you don't know how to look for them.

You decide to investigate somewhere else.

You take note of the fact there's blood on the doorknob as you leave, the doorknob which only Hiniwa had access to use, and you remember the blood you saw on Hiniwa's hand. He's already left by now.

[Bloody Doorknob has been added to the truth bullets]

[Hiniwa's Hand has been added to the truth bullets]

You decided to check out the Lab. If the Diaspara Toxin was used, it probably came from there.

It's a short walk down the stairs to the third floor, and an even shorter one to the door of the Lab, which you open with haste, only to stop short.

The entire inside of the Lab, it's completely trashed. Cabinets are torn open, their doors off the hinges, some even knocked over out of their fixed places in the ground, revealing the concrete under their bases. There are bottles broken on the floor, some with pills or powder spilled out, some with liquids slick or sticky from their extended contact with the air. You don't know how to describe how glad you are that you're wearing sneakers.

[Status of the Lab has been added to the truth bullets]

You soon realize that you won't be able to do any investigating for missing poisons in here. You're about to leave, when you spot something across the room. What a difference a quick glance could make.

It's pink, very pink, so pink you think it to just be pepto bismol from a distance, but you make your way closer to investigate if that's really what it is. It turns out to be a school notebook. There's actually a stack of them. The one on top has a name labeled on it.

"Miyano Mamiko"

huh?

You look through the rest of the stack. All of the notebooks are labeled with names of people here. Each of them had notes inside too, specifically high school class notes, though Miyano's has more doodles than class notes.

[Student Notebooks has been added to the truth bullets]

At the bottom of the stack of notebooks, though, you notice something else. It looks like a newspaper clipping, from the front page headline article. You assume this because of the large eye-grabbing title and image taking up a large portion of the page. The newspaper's name is cropped out. You read through the article, starting with that large title.

"Hope's Peak Students Found Dead  
30 students from the _76th and 77th_ classes of Hope's Peak Academy previously thought to be MIA were discovered to have been killed in the alleged bombing of a relief center. The perpetrator is thought to be a member of Super High School Level Despair, a group which has been wreaking havoc all over Japan since the inception of the Tragedy, as many already know. Though a thorough investigation was conducted, no remains were found, but local experts assure that this is just due to the nature of the style of bomb which was used."

The article cuts off there. It sounds like it should continue, especially if it's a headline article, but that's where the clipping ends.

[76th and 77th Classes of Hope's Peak Academy has been added to the truth bullets]

[Relief Shelter Bombing has been added to the truth bullets]

You look around at the Lab again, but there doesn't seem to be anything else to investigate, anything you _can_ investigate. This place really was destroyed by someone. You wonder if you could look through the security footage to see who did it, so you decide to go up to the surveillance room again.

You rush through the fourth floor, not bothering to stop. You bound up the stairs by twos.

The fifth floor even _sounds_ empty. You open the door to the surveillance room and enter. It's empty as well. Oh well, time to mess around with these computers. You plop yourself down in a desk chair and get to work, resisting the urge to spin or roll around.

There's a lot of different setting to work through, but you eventually find the feed for the Lab and manage to rewind it for a while then play it back sped up.

The feed cuts out at one point, and when it returns you see the Lab in its current state. You don't know what to do about that now. It looks like a lost cause.

You get an idea though. Without anything to verify your alibi of being asleep, there's barely any chance that you'll be able to keep your argument up, but if you could use this video feed you'd be safe. You saw a setting for the feed of an individual person while you were searching for the Lab's feed, it's just the matter of digging through to find it again.  
With a bit more searching, you even find a way to export the video files onto a CD. There's a stack of blank ones on a nearby desk. You swipe one and press a few buttons for it to download. You have an alibi since the end of the last trial now, doing exactly what you knew you were doing.

You quickly check Hiniwa's feed for the time he would have been poisoning Soushin yesterday, around 1:30 pm yesterday, but there's no video for that time period, or for the time of death this morning. It's just static.

[Security Tape has been added to the truth bullets]

There isn't anything left to look at in here, you decide, so you pick up the CD and leave. You're about to go downstairs, but you notice that the door to the room across the hall, the main office, is swung wide open. It's worth a look, you guess.

Entering the room, you almost stop short. The inside looks like something out of a mecha anima. There's a large curved screen in the center of what looks like some sort of cockpit, with all sorts of switched and buttons around it. The screen is switched off right now. You sit down in the reclined chair (with just as many switches as everything else) positioned there in the center and switch it on.

It's static at first, with a loud garbled audio, and you frantically press buttons until the image onscreen and the sounds clarify themselves. You take a closer look at the button you think you pressed last. It's labeled "Surveillance Room".

The image onscreen appears to be a video feed, similar to the ones in the surveillance room. It's lower to the ground than the views from the cameras, though, and there's a lot more controls at this station than you'd expect from a simple swiveling camera setup. A camera also doesn't need an input microphone, just speakers.

Besides all of that, though, it looks like the feed _is_ coming from the surveillance room. You can see the different monitors and chairs on screen as long as you shift the view to the right angle. You mess around a little to get used to moving the camera around, so that you can do it in a more efficient way. There's still more things to mess with, but you're interrupted by the sound of a door opening. You turn around to look at the door of the Main Office, but that one is shut. The door must have been from the video feed in the Surveillance Room. 3D sound. Cool.

"Hiniwa-kun!" You gasp into the mic once you get the camera turned around. "What are you doing here?"

"What? Am I not allowed to investigate here?" He sighs, moving towards one of the monitor and bending to look at it. "Honestly, monokuma, I've had enough of your shit to last a lifetime. Can I please just work on my investigation for the trial?"

"Wait, monokuma?" You ask, now leaning closer to the mic.

"Why are you acting confused of all people?" Hiniwa responds. "That is your name, isn't it?"

"No," you say. "This is Ajiyama, I'm investigating the 'Main Office'."

"Which Ajiyama." He interrupts.

"Tsuneo."

"Right."

"Why did you call me monokuma?" You cut to the point.

"For god's sake,-" Hiniwa sighs. "Just come and see for yourself."

So you do that. You exit the Main Office, not noticing the click of the door locking behind you, and step across the hall to the Surveillance Room. Hiniwa is waiting there gesturing to something on the floor.

You jump and yelp at the sight of monokuma standing there motionless. Hiniwa groans.

"Do you see now?" He asks.

"That... was the camera I was controlling?" You question, bewildered.

"Hey! I'll have you know I'm more than just a camera!" Monokuma springs to action. You yelp again.

"So, the Main Office..." You say after regaining your composure.

"It's my very own control room!" Monokuma replies. "Very nice accommodations, if I do say so myself."

"But if Ajiyama-kun just left the control room how are you moving _already_?" Hiniwa asks.

"Well I suppose you wouldn't have seen the secret door, but it was there! This is the only control room, after all!" Monokuma says. Hiniwa looks to you. You shrug to indicate that you did not see any secret doors. He sighs.

[Monokuma Control Room has been added to the truth bullets]

"Fine then, so we know that the person controlling monokuma is across the hall from us at this very moment." Hiniwa says. "But I have a different question for you, monokuma."

"Hmm? Well, get on with it." Monokuma says. "I have a trial to prepare for too, you know!"

"Including you, the mastermind, who all is inside the dome with us?" Hiniwa asks.

"You should know I can't just outright answer a question like that specifically." Monokuma replies. "But for the sake of fairness, I'll tell you that only sixteen people have _ever_ set foot inside the dome. Fifteen Hope's Peak students, and one extra."

[Monokuma's Account has been added to the truth bullets]

"Are you the extra?" You ask monokuma.

"Nope! I'm not nearly that pathetic." He says. "Anyways, I've got things to do that don't involve you. Hopefully you two can handle yourselves without my help."

Hiniwa turns to face you once monokuma leaves. There's a moment before he speaks up.

"So that's that then." Then another moment before he continues. "Say, so you think it might be a good idea to stick together for the majority of this investigation? There's only two of us, so it might be better to split up, though, but I'd really be okay with either option, so really-"

"Let's go." You cut him off with a nod before he can embarrass himself further. He gives a cursory nod back. You leave the surveillance room together and start down the stairs, but you stop at the door to the glass room. The doorknob has caught your attention again. Hiniwa turns his head slightly over his shoulder as if to ask why you stopped.

"Hiniwa, about this doorknob," You say. Hiniwa assumes the end to your sentence before you can even figure it out for yourself.

"Oh, that?" He says. "I lent it to Soushin so she could conduct her own investigation of the upper floors without worrying about the archive password."

[Hiniwa's Account has been added to the truth bullets]

"Okay." You say. You take a few wide steps to catch up with Hiniwa, before either of you start down the stairs. You take his hand in yours, for a reason you're not quite sure of, but you make sure it’s the one that's not covered in blood. The two of you continue onwards all the way to the first floor. Seeing the door to the Computer Lab, you pause, remembering the disc you made. It'd be a good idea to check if it works.

"I'm gonna check something, hold on." You say. You pull away from Hiniwa to enter the room, but he follows you in.

You're loading the disc when you notice something out of place. At the very least, it wasn't here the last time you checked. The computer is taking a while, so you go over to check it.

It looks to be another pile of notebooks.

"These are just like the ones in the Lab," you say, mostly to yourself.

"What do you mean?" Hiniwa asks. You hadn't noticed he was standing so close to you. You notice now, though.

"Oh, well, I went to the Lab earlier to, you know, check it out, just in case." You say. "And there was a pile of notebooks just like this one."

"Just like these, then?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Aren't _school notebooks_ a little suspicious?" He asks. "If I'm remembering correctly, shortly before we all woke up in this forest we were headed to Hope's Peak to _start_ school, am I correct?"

"That's what I remember too." You say. "I guess it clashes with the notebooks. If we keep investigating, though, maybe we'll find something that will explain this."

[Student Notebooks has been updated in the truth bullets]

"We can only hope for that, then." He says, afterwards pausing a moment. "Ajiyama-kun, your sister."

A small chill runs up your spine, but you ignore it.

"What about her?" Your voice has fallen to a barely controlled whispered tone.

"During the last investigation, you found her notebook."

"Yes."

"And the last entry in it, it mentioned remembering things, as if it were some huge revelation." He pauses. You nod a silent affirmation. "When you remembered your talent, it didn't seem to me like you had reached such an epiphany, if I interpreted correctly, that is. Do you think it's possible there are more of our memories missing than we realize?"

[Masuyo's Memory has been added to the truth bullets]

"It could be possible." You say, slightly unnerved by the idea. "Let's not worry about it, though, and get on with the investigation."

"Sure."

You're sure to eject the disc and take it with you on your way out. This is important evidence. It's your alibi.

You stop outside in the open area of the main building's first floor.

"So," you say. "Where to?"

"Well, um, this may feel redundant, seeing as we just came from that direction, but," Hiniwa sighs. "Shouldn't we have checked all of the rooms in the main building on our way down?"

oh shit he's right.

"I wasn't thinking about it, but since we found the notebooks in the computer lab, and you mentioned finding more in the lab..."

"No, no, it makes sense." You stop him. "I hadn't thought of it either. I guess we kinda have to be back tracking now."  
  
He shrugs in defeat at your joint stupidity, and you both enter the infirmary to begin.

You check each room semi-thoroughly for any suspicious artifacts, and turn up with, unsurprisingly, nothing. Not even in the library do you find anything with useful information. It's only once you're all the way back up on the third floor in the art study that your search proves fruitful.

There on an easel, as if tauntingly easy to find, is a black file with a slightly metallic white word printed on the front in stylized kanji, like a logo.

"Future"

You pick up the file and read it as Hiniwa follows along over your shoulder.

" **The Future Foundation**  
The Future Foundation is an organization created and dedicated to eradicating despair after the incidents, and repairing and rebuilding the world for society's future. Among other projects they created numerous to erase and ease the troubling memories and experiences of the incident survivors who they rescued, and to replace these scarring memories with new and more beneficial ones.  
After recovery many survivors have been noted to join the foundation as a way to spread the Hope..."

After that summary, the file seems to go into a bunch of irrelevant statistics and facts about The Future Foundation and some of their programs. There isn't anything conclusive that could actually help you.

[Future Foundation has been added to the truth bullets]

"Hey, Ajiyama-kun," Hiniwa says. He seems to have decided the rest of the file is useless just as well as you have. "We should go to the carnival grounds next. They're nearby, and I have a feeling we'll find something there."

"Ok, sure." You say. You set the file back down on the easel. It might become cumbersome to carry everything around if you find many more files like this one.

Walking down the stairs again feels repetitive.

You try to walk quickly to the carnival grounds without actually running. You are successful.

Once there, Hiniwa speaks up to explain why he suggested coming here, though, it's not too informative.

"If I'm right, there should be another file or something of the sort here."

"Huh? Why?" You ask.

"If I'm right about this, then I'll tell you."

Still confused, you begin searching as meticulously as is reasonable, while retaining safety as well, through all of the broken down stalls and rides for some kind of file. There's a lot to go through, and the more you look through it, the more intimidating the task becomes.

"Ajiyama-kun!" You hear Hiniwa call from around the bend, near the Haunted House. You figure he's found something, so you get your head out of the ticket booth you were leaned over, and head over to where you heard his voice coming from.

The sight of the Haunted House bothers you in an unfamiliar way.

Hiniwa is crouched close to the ground in the center of the red bloodstain in front of the ominous building. He stretches his legs to stand up when he notices you. There's another black folder in his hands.

"Hm, what's that?" You ask. You almost get a reaction, having come up from behind.

"I haven't read it yet, I was waiting for you." he replies.

"Oh, thanks," you say. "You can read it, then."

He clears his throat before opening the folder and reading aloud. You take a peek and see that it's an article about Hope's Peak.

"Hope's Peak Academy was a school founded to cultivate humanity's 'hope' in the form of talented youth. It is a government owned and operated facility located on prime real estate in the middle of Tokyo, with a main high school consisting of various research buildings, an affiliated elementary and middle school, and a Reserve Course department from which the school derives most of its funding, by way of the course's high tuition. On the school grounds there is also an old, unused High School building, administrative offices, and Student Dorms.

"The school was originally founded by Kamukura Izuru, in an effort to study the meaning and method of talent in humans, especially youth with predispositions towards certain subjects. Students of an undetermined number are scouted each year as long as they meet a set of requirements.

"A few years after the school's inception, the 'Super High School Level Good Luck' program was started as a way to study the phenomenon of luck. A high school student would be chosen via a random lottery system with entries from that year's enrollments. This talent has been discredited with efforts to remove the program, however the remarkable attributes of some of these students, a recent example being Komaeda Nagito, have convinced those in opposition to let the program continue.

"The Reserve Course of Hope's Peak Academy was started to fund the research going on in the rest of the school. Government funding, despite amounting to a large sum, could not keep up with the expenses of various experiments and tests going on in the school alongside the students' learning. Thus, the Reserve Course was started. Any student was allowed to enroll in the Reserve Course, as long as they could afford the high tuition of the school and score well enough in the rigorous entry exams. To an uninformed outsider, the offer would seem absurd, but given the rumor that anyone who graduated from Hope's Peak would have a guaranteed career, an alarming amount of high schoolers jumped at the chance, giving Hope's Peak plenty of funding to continue research.

"The affiliated middle school-"

"Hiniwa," you cut off Hiniwa's dictation of the file. "How long is this file, exactly?"

He pages through to count, eventually guessing, "A few pages, why?"

"Do we really need to know all of this?" You ask. "It's just about Hope's Peak. We know enough."

"Okay then," he folds the cover back over the folder.

[Hope's Peak Academy has been added to the truth bullets]

"Do you want to explain why you seemingly just _knew_ that file was going to be here, now, then?" You ask. It's not meant to be as hostile as it sounds.

"It's simple, if you think about it." He says. "Remember where we found the other evidence that monokuma left out?"

"The Lab, Art Study, and Computer Lab." You list the rooms out.

"And that, along with right here." He pauses. "Do you see what they have in common?"

There must be a blank look on your face, as he sighs and explains even more.

"So far, these are the places where someone has died." he says. "Well, sans the Art Study, of course, but Oshima was near-fatally attacked there, so I supposed monokuma counted it for some reason."

"Then the next place we should check is right out on forest path 3." You say.

"Yes, and I'd like to walk all the way to the Shopping District." He says. "To see if the execution sites all have things there too."

"That makes sense." You say. "If you're right, though, and it looks like you are, then we have a lot of walking around to do. We better hurry if we don't want to run out of time."  
Hiniwa nods. "Let's go."

You leave the Carnival Grounds and, sure enough, on the ground where the blood stains centralize, there's, not a file, actually, a book. The title is rather shocking.

"How I killed the Captive Student Council of Hope's Peak Academy"

You glance at the author.

"Kamukura Izuru"

You figure you don't have time to read this whole thing, so you flip to the back and read the synopsis.

"'This dramatic retelling of the Tragedy of Hope's Peak Academy by the culprit himself captures imaginations, and leaves the readers wanting more.' -Enoshima Junko, _Tokyo Times_

"'This book is handy for people who tend to forget what happened during the events leading up to the Biggest Most Awful Most Tragic Event in the History of Mankind, like me, useless me.' -Otonashi Ryouko, _Akihabara Weekly_

"'They threatened to kill me if I didn't write a good review for this book, please send help.' -Suzuki Taro, _Kanto Press_ "

Ugh, this is one of those books with reviews on the back instead of a reasonable summary. That last one is troubling, though, but it's not like there's anything you can do about it. You check the inside fold of the book cover. There's a summary there, thank god.

"Follow Kamukura as he tells the story of how he brutally murdered the student council of Hope's Peak Academy, sparing only the president. A weekend trip to the old school building sounds like a good idea, until Ultimate Hope attacks! Try not to get too scared, or too invested in any characters. Includes special epilogue addition by yours truly, Enoshima Junko, on how this inspired the world to despair!"

That, wasn't very helpful, either. You'll try to remember it anyways.

[Tragedy of Hope's Peak Academy has been added to the truth bullets]

Hiniwa takes the book from you and pages through it.

"There's not enough time to read all of that." You say.

"I figured." He responds, only now looking up from it. "I just thought that if there were any words that stuck out they might be important."

"Well were there?"

"Nothing important that wasn't mentioned in the summary." He says, glancing down once more and then shutting the book. "Don't you think it's strange that something like this would get published, though?"

"It'd have to be a strange situation, yeah." You say. "Let's worry about it in the trial. If we're lucky we'll find something else in the investigation." Hiniwa nods. You take it as a cue to continue down the path.

As expected, there's another file right in the middle of the road in the Shopping District. You pick it up and flip it open, but before you can start reading,

"Ah, that's-" Hiniwa says in surprise and recognition.

"Hm, have you seen this before?" You ask.

"The other day, when I was investigating the archive," he explains. "There was a file on different murder games, the kind run by monokuma. This looks like a part of it, the School Life of Mutual Killing."

You pass the file to Hiniwa, and he flips through it while continuing to speak about its contents.

"If I'm remembering correctly, sixteen students from the 78th class of Hope's Peak Academy agreed to enclose themselves inside the old school building of the Hope's Peak campus in order to keep themselves safe until the outside world had recovered enough to inhabit again, but once they all were prepared to be locked inside, one of the students, Enoshima Junko, erased everyone else's memories and set up a killing game very similar to the one we've been in. During the sixth class trial, Enoshima executed herself, and the remaining six students were allowed to leave, and they joined the future foundation afterwards."

[School Life of Mutual Killing has been added to the truth bullets]

"Enoshima Junko, she keeps coming up." You mention. "Do you think she might be important?"

"Well, even though she was the mastermind of previous games, I doubt her being important here." Hiniwa says. "There's pretty much no way she's not dead by now."

"Really?" You ask.

"I'm  sure." He replies. "It's impossible to survive being crushed in an execution and then mutilated and cut into pieces by your followers."

"Oh, hm, you're right, then."

"Of course."

[Enoshima Junko has been added to the truth bullets]

"The hospital is next, then?" You question for confirmation.

"I think I might skip ahead to the Junkyard so the two of us can cover more ground." Hiniwa says. "Can you handle the Hospital and the Recording Studio on your own?"

"Probably, yeah." You wave briefly before jogging off down the path to the Hospital. Judging from your memory of Shibou's execution and the location of the blood splatter, you can guess where the next piece of evidence should be.

You bound up the stairs into the hospital, and trying your best to keep track of the orientation of things, you find the right room. The lights are off, so it's dark, but you still find the file easily.

This investigation is getting annoyingly monotonous. It's not like it would be favorable to not find anything and everything, though. You read the file. There are a few photos and newspaper clippings paper clipped to the sides, but you focus on the main article.

"The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in the Whole of Human History"

Well this is off to a dramatic start.

"The event was, in a single phrase, the beginning of the apocalypse. The Tragedy of Hope's Peak Academy, despite numerous attempts on the school's part to cover it up, set off a rise of unrest in the student body of the Main and Reserve Courses alike. The latter heard of the massacre, and assumed that the high tuitions they were paying to attend were being put mainly towards such experiments.

The Tragedy also helped to spearhead the campaign of Enoshima Junko, as well as her followers, a group called 'Super High School Level Despair'. Their efforts were furthered even more when the concerns of the Reserve Course became paramount and they committed a group mass suicide.

The sudden death of 2,357 teenagers sent ripples of unrest all over the worlds. Social unrest grew, and eventually people never anywhere close to affiliated with Hope's Peak or even Japan became part of the now social movement under the same name; 'Super High School Level Despair'.

There were riots in the streets, and entire cities crumbled to ruin, causing a new world order where anyone who would not submit to despair hid in any available safe havens.

This alone was worthy of being called the biggest most awful most tragic event in the whole of human history, but still in those small clusters, Hope stayed vibrant as ever for as long as it could.

The School Life of Mutual Killing, along with following killing games-"

The text cuts off there. The rest is smudged out to a point where you can't read it.

[Biggest Most Awful Most Tragic Event in Human History has been added to the truth bullets]

That's all there should be in the Hospital.

You leave the Hospital quickly, and forest path 3 entirely, taking the short walk to enter forest path 4.

You suddenly remember what happened at the building which should be first on the path. You don't want to think about it, so you don't. You think about trying to pass by the Recording Studio without pausing, but you remember that there should be evidence here. You look around without looking up.

There's a piece of paper on the ground, white, uncovered. It still has the edging, as if it had been hastily torn out of a spiral bound notebook.

It's a page from Masuyo's journal. However, with the way it's torn, you know that she couldn't have taken it out herself. There's no way. Even in the quickest of hurries she always makes sure the paper tears out cleanly, sometimes it causes a hassle, but anyways, you read through it.

You remember this day. It was the first day after the first trial. You were worried for Oshima, so you sent everyone out to look. In the graveyard, you and Masuyo heard things about Matsuda, which she was surprisingly unreluctant to tell you. Maybe it was a cry for help?

This day doesn't seem important, though, maybe it has more to do with Masuyo and her notebook.

[Torn Page has been added to the truth bullets]

You pocket the piece of paper, and continue down the path to meet up with Hiniwa in the Junkyard. When you arrive, he's bent down looking at something, the file discarded a few meters away from him.

"Hiniwa-kun?" You call to get his attention. He stands up and faces you.

"Oh, you're here now, what did you find in the hospital and the Recording Studio?" He's quick to jump to asking questions and getting down to business, the important stuff. It's a bit stifling.

You explain your discoveries in short summaries. Hiniwa nods.

"And the file here?" You ask, gesturing vaguely to it. "Did you read it?"

"Yes, actually," he answers. "A while ago. It's about the subsequent killing game after the school life."

"So you read that one earlier, too?" You ask. "In the archive?"

"Yeah," he says. "The basis of it is that the Future Foundation created a virtual reality system called the Neo World Program in order to erase the memories of Super High School Level Despair members and replace them with memories of a fun school trip on a virtual 'Jabberwock Island'. However, the program was corrupted by a virus, an AI version of Enoshima Junko which one of the students put there. The virus took control, and started a killing game with goals to trap a few survivors from the first killing game inside the virtual reality while taking over the bodies of all the other students and starting something she called 'Operation Junko-fy all mankind'. The game ended when the antivirus on the computers running the program were updated to delete the virus. There were five 'survivors' and all of the students who died in the game remained comatose and brain dead due to the shock of dying."

[Island Life of Mutual Killing has been added to the truth bullets]

"Do you think this might also be a virtual reality program?" You ask.

"I can't explain why, but I doubt it." He says. "Maybe it's just that everything feels too real."

"I wonder if those people thought the same..." You mumble under your breath.

"Well then," Hiniwa says, with a bit of authority to his voice. "That should be all that's in the Junkyard, then. Shall we continue on?"

"If the file was all that was here then what where you looking at when I got here?" You ask, ignoring his question.

"I was only checking to make sure there was nothing else."

"And there wasn't?"

"Not a thing aside from that file."

"Okay then," you sigh. "Let's go to the Locked Building."

The two of you begin to leave while continuing to talk.

"You know we really shouldn't just call it 'the locked building'." Hiniwa says, utilizing air quotes. "It's not locked anymore."

"I agree, but what else could we call it?" You say. "There's nothing inside the building, and we don't know what it's used for. There's no way to identify it."

"Actually,... Hmmm,...." Hiniwa trails off.

"What?"

"There was a large scale explosion there, during the last trial, but we only saw and heard it on the execution video. And from that view, there were no windows, what looked like thick walls, a drab interior," he pauses. "And there wasn't any damage to the area surrounding the building,... Do you think that maybe it was built for something like that?"

"Like a Test Site?"

"Exactly like that." He nods.

"We can call it that then, forgive me if I mess it up." You say. "We're almost there, anyways."

You round the sharp corner to get to the front of the large building. The Test Site. There's nothing on the ground, and you're worried about having to go inside again until you see something bright blue posted to the door. You read a few words of white text in bold near the top.

"Time Manipulation Technology"

There are a few subheadings.

"Compact Time Jump Device"

"Large Scale Transport and Rescue Vessel"

"Controlled Time Stasis Chamber"

Hiniwa speaks up before you start reading the details.

"Is that-" he snatches the blueprints off of the door and folds them to look closer at one of the diagrams. "It is, this is..."

"What is it?" You ask. He folds up the blueprints further and sticks them in his pocket.

[Mysterious Blueprints has been added to the truth bullets]

"I'm going to go ahead to the warehouse." Hiniwa says curtly, rather than explaining his actions about the blueprints. "You can meet me there, right?"

"Sure," you say. "But-"

"Make sure you investigate everywhere else first." He interrupts. "We'll make it through this trial, the both of us."

"Of course we will, but Hiniwa-" he leaves before you can finish.

There's nothing else to do at the test site. You leave forest path 4, and head over to path 2 for the Theater. There's nothing else on this path, so it feels inefficient, but it's not like you have an option.

You don't think about stopping for more food when you go by food mart. Or at least, you try not to. You don't stop at the bath house either. Even if there were evidence for Soushin's murder there, it would be indistinguishable from the rest of the mess. You don't have the forensic experience or the time to go through with that.

So there are no stopping points before you reach the theater. You never actually entered here before, but it's easy enough to expect what it looks like if you remember back to Shiroju's execution. You check the stage first, and last, as you find something there. What a lucky first choice.

The paper inside the file is printed like it's from a really old computer. There are uniform circular holes running down each side, and green colored boxes every other line down the center. What's printed here looks like an email log.

"To: Jabberwock Division 14  
Subject: 76, 77, 30  
About the 30 Hope's Peak Students who were returned to us recently. Identity checks have confirmed their identities as the 30 students who died in the bombing of the relief shelter 3 years ago, but they don't seem to have aged at all. Having recently dealt with the traumatic memories of Super High School Level Despair members, it is assumed that your advice would be an advantage in properly dealing with these arrivals.

To: Central Division 1  
Subject: Re: 76, 77, 30  
Due to hectic circumstances here at Jabberwock base, we have not received adequate information about these 30 alumni. Please respond with further elaboration. Thank you.

To: Jabberwock Division 14  
Subject: Re: Re: 76, 77, 30  
Attached image: j1010.jpeg  
The 30 students involved in the Super High School Level relief shelter bombing appeared before the front of our main building in what witnesses describe as a "flash of light" with no known origin. Many reported memories of the bombing, but none sustain injuries. It is unknown how they might have survived or gotten here.  
It is suggested for us to receive all of the data for the Neo World Program and information on the setup so that another two sessions can be initiated and carried out quickly to avoid development of any trauma induced disorders.

To: Central Division 1  
Subject: Re: Re: Re: 76, 77, 30  
Neo World Program is currently unavailable and ill advised due to data corruption. It is suggested that another method be used.  
Jabberwock Island Base will be offline for an undetermined time due to extraneous circumstances. Please stand by for updates on status in the future, and thank you for your understanding."

That's the last email printed here.

[Future Foundation Log has been added to the truth bullets]

You think this might be related to that newspaper clipping you found back in the Lab. You'll have to compare them later during the trial.

The theater is giving you a bad vibe, so you leave and make sure the door shuts behind you. It feels like someone is watching you, and like there's no way to avoid their gaze.  
You run, without thinking, out of forest path 2, and into path 1. You only have to check the Greenhouse, then you'll be able to meet back up with Hiniwa. Then things should be okay.

Once inside the Greenhouse, you attempt to remember the location of the shed which had held the scrap for the plant creature. It'd make the most sense for the file to be there you think.

You dash to that shed, too, not bothering to look at any of the flowers, all as vibrant as ever.

There are a lot of scuff marks on the brick path leading into the shed, like something had been dragged out of here. There are many possible reasons for the scuff marks, but what seems most likely upon seeing the scrap all missing is that it was relocated, causing all of the marks in transport. You don't immediately realize why it would have been moved, though.

The inside of the shed is dark. You try to stand out of the way of the bit of light coming through the door. There's just enough shining through for you to distinguish yet another file on the floor. There's a uniformly typed paper inside this time. It looks like an essay of some sort if only due to the formatting.

"Artificial Dome Program

This program was first developed by the Future Foundation to be used to place subjects in an easily controlled environment. Weather, including temperature and precipitation, can be controlled from various wireless control panels within and outside the dome once an artificial ground is selected.

Typical installment involves hollowing out a large enough basin in the earth for the dome to fit, and then replacing this earth inside the dome. The outer shell is made of a material which can project an image of the sky for any environment at any time of day.

With time, it is theorized any environment could be perfectly replicated inside the dome. Oxygen can either be recycled through an external system or by foliage implanted into the environment. Other systems standardly are improvised based on the desired simulation.

The idea of the Dome Program was for it to be combined with medically induced amnesia to replace possibly traumatic memories with those of the Artificial Environment, or in order to have an untouchable safe haven in the case of an emergency. However, due to the development of the much cheaper and easier to maintain Neo World Program, the Artificial Dome Program is now considered archaic and impractical.

Originally five domes were made, though their current locations are unknown."

[Artificial Dome Program has been added to the truth bullets]

It's dark in here, and your paranoia is increasing. You hurry out of the Greenhouse and back up the path to the Warehouse. You wander around quickly, calling out Hiniwa's name.

You feel a hand on your shoulder and you jump.

"Are you alright?" Hiniwa asks. Your heart is still at a fast pace, but you're more relieved now. Your breathing slowly normalizes to a steady rate.

"I'm fine." You lie. "I'm fine, just, some of the things in the investigation are creeping me out a little."

"It won't be much longer." He says. "We have to hurry, anyways, do you remember where in here Otsuka and Emiline died? The files should be there."

"Maybe? I'm not sure." You admit. "We'll just have to walk around until we find it."

"That's so inefficient." Hiniwa grumbles. You shrug and begin walking in the first direction which strikes your fancy. Hiniwa sighs and follows.

You make your way through the labyrinth of the Warehouse at a comparatively fast pace, hanging left, as you've learned is advisable in mazes, though more time consuming.

"What I wouldn't give for a golden thread right now." Hiniwa says quietly at some point during your journey. You stifle a snorted laugh. It's doesn't start a conversation. It's just a stark break from the eerie silence.

After what seems like forever, but is probably just ten minutes or so stretched by your perception, you spot something a few meters ahead. It looks like a lot more than just a file. You dart forwards, rushing to get to it quicker.

It's a huge stack of files, once you're close enough to see. Most of them are the same standard black-covered files you've been seeing this entire investigation, but two of them are a bright white instead. They stand out.

You dig through, pulling out files, and looking at them. You pull out the two white files in particular, but before you can read more than the "Reserve Course Student File" printed in bold black text on the cover, Hiniwa speaks up.

"Ajiyama-kun," he gestures to a piece of paper in his hand. "Did you even look at this before you completely destroyed this probably pre-organized set of files?"

"I didn't see it." You say. He sighs and reads aloud.

"Student Files of Hope's Peak students involved in mutual killing games."

You look back towards the two Reserve Course files.

"So our files are in here." You say.

"A lot of other ones too, if looks aren't deceiving." Hiniwa says. "There's no way we'll be able to read through all of these."

"Then we don't read all of them." You say. "Scan for information, count how many there are, maybe see what year they're in, check names and things. I doubt the mastermind is some English teacher who will test us on the minute details of things like 'what color shirt was this student wearing in the photo on their file?'"

Hiniwa doesn't look convinced. You split the now messy pile in half and shove the half without the reserve course files towards Hiniwa.

"We each read a pile for quick information and all that stuff I mentioned." You suggest.

"Alright, if you think that's a good idea." He says.

You finally get back to inspecting the white files. You flip open one after the other.

"Hinata Hajime"

"Honrei Natsuki"

You breathe a sigh in relief. You hadn't realized it except in retrospect, but you were afraid that the previous files were forged, and that these two would actually be for you and Masuyo.

You speed through the rest of the files. Each one has two pages, more detailed than the previous set. They mention things pertaining to games like this one. You recognize the files for people in this game as detailing what happened to those people throughout the duration of your experience. It seems a little creepy under consideration that this is still going on. Even Soushin's file lists everything that happened to her up until her death.

You don't get your own file, but you hear Hiniwa gulp, unsettled, at one point.

You reach a file for a girl named Enoshima Junko, the name is all too familiar, frequent in this investigation, so you set it aside.

You count 33 files, Hiniwa had 28, making 61 total. 2 Reserve Course, 59 Main Course.

"You didn't find my file, did you?" Hiniwa asks.

"No, sorry." You answer.

"Damn," he whispers, probably not meaning for you to hear.

[Student Files has been added to the truth bullets]

You organize the files back into a semi-neat stack. Hiniwa notices the one you left out.

"What's that, then?" He asks.

"Enoshima Junko's file. She's been mentioned just about everywhere, so I thought it'd be a good idea to look through it more."

Hiniwa nods in agreement. You open the file and read from the point where the timeline notes start.

"Enoshima Junko was a student in the 78th class of Hope's Peak Academy who was popular among her classmates, upperclassmen, and generally everyone she met. She was accepted into the school with a talent of Super High School Level Model, for her general geniality and her occupation as an actual model for many magazines and news channels.

During her school career, Enoshima started an underground top secret project as part of the founding for Super High School Level Despair, which she later became the leader of. Enoshima recounts her life experience as feeling despair since the day she was born and wanting to spread this despair to the rest of the world. Along with efforts influencing her upperclassmen, Enoshima suggested to Kamukura Izuru that he cause the infamous Tragedy of Hope's Peak Academy.

Also during her high school years, Enoshima took on the alternate identity of Otonashi Ryouko in a test to develop memory altering technology with efforts from Matsuda Yasuke.

Sometime after the complete fall of society in the Biggest Most Awful Most Tragic Event in the Whole of Human History, Enoshima was placed in the old school building located on the Hope's Peak campus, along with her fellow students of the 78th class. From there she was able to orchestrate the original School Life of mutual killing. At the end of this, she executed herself along with her plush bear robot, monokuma.

Enoshima returned in the Island Life of Mutual killing, as a virus-related Artificial Intelligence program called 'Alter Ego Junko', placed there by one of the students. The virus was terminated by the 'teacher' artificial intelligence, Usami, at the end of this as well, before her self-dubbed 'Operation Junko-fy Mankind' could be a success.

It is unknown currently whether she will return in the form of another AI, but she most definitely is not alive, as her corpse has been cut up and split between high ranking members of Super High School Level Despair."

That's the end of the file.

[Enoshima Junko has been updated in the truth bullets]

"She's dead, then." You say, half to yourself.

"We shouldn't have to worry about her." Hiniwa agrees. You still worry about the VR AI possibility, though.

"That's all in the warehouse?" You ask, trying to change the subject a bit.

"I think we should look around more on our way out." Hiniwa says. "Just in case."

"Just in case." You nod.

You follow Hiniwa now, as he walks, mostly around the perimeter of the building. You see doors leading to rooms like the shooting range, peeking inside some of them, but most don't draw any attention, only being filled with more weaponry.

You stop at a door with a placard titling it as "Spare Cold Storage". Whereas the name itself isn't too suspicious, it's giving off a strange vibe, beyond just the cold. You don't open the door. There's still a bit of hesitation there.

"What is it?" Hiniwa asks, turning around and walking back from where he's gone ahead while you paused.

"I'm not sure." Your voice is involuntarily quiet. "I, I'm just getting a weird feeling from it."

"Well we can check inside if it's important."

You still don't open the door.

Hiniwa reaches over and turns the knob for you. The door swings open idly, letting even more cold air out to surround you. You slip your hands inside the sleeves of your hoodie to keep them warm. Hiniwa steps inside ahead of you. You follow closely behind.

There's a bit of fog generated by the cold, blurring your vision of the room and condensing your sight range to a few feet. You try to stick close to Hiniwa in order to not get lost in the fog.

Something catches your attention out of the corner of your eye. You stop for a second and walk towards it. The first thing you decipher is that what you saw was a small blue light shining in the darkness, and then you notice more lights, a row of them, evenly spaced. As you get closer, you notice more things, a tall metal door, one for each light. Door handles and electronic lock systems with lights. All of the indicators you can see are switched to blue.

You try to open one of the doors. Once the handle clicks, you feel a presence behind you, and a warm breath hitting against your neck. You almost scream, but petrified in fear, no sound will escape your mouth. All there is is a small squeak.

"Ajiyama-kun," you recognize the voice.

"HINIWA HOLY FUCK!" You scream, turning quickly to face him. He recoils, stepping back a few feet.

"Is something wrong?" He asks.

"You just appeared out of nowhere!" You say, exasperated. "How was I supposed to see you coming up behind me, especially with all of this fog?!"

"Well, I didn't really expect you to notice me right away." He admits. "That's why I said your name."

Many responses run through your head to what he thinks is an acceptable way to get someone's attention, but you decide on something to say which isn't actually related much at all.

"I was just about to open this thing." You refer back to the door.

"Well, go on then."

You go back to the door, large and metal and cold to the touch. There's suddenly a feeling of intimidation, like when you were entering this room. This time, though, you pull open the door, that heavy slab of metal, on your own. The indicator light turns red as you peer inside.

You freeze at the sight, if you weren't cold enough already.

What's inside the container which now seems like a lock box in the wall, what it looks like at least,

is a dead body.

The skin is grayish and cold, lifeless. The face is incredibly non distinct, nonexistent, really. There are contours of a forehead, a nose, and a chin, but none of them are really there. It doesn't have any eyes.

The fog in the room clears for an unknown reason. You step back precautiously, and see an entire wall of cells just like that one opening, each one revealing another similar gray body, except for the second one from the left. All of the indicator lights glow red. Your heart rate increases and your mind flashes back to the haunted house. You fear that they'll start moving from their chambers and attack you.

Your back hits something and you whip around to see a table out filled with all sorts of strange tools. Jars and bottles of things, wefts of hair scattered everywhere.  
A monitor that you did not know was in the room lights to life.

"Upupupu..." Monokuma laughs. "It seems like you two have successfully found all the hints I set out for you! That means it's time for the trial, you know? You can figure out what all this means once you're there!"

You're the first one to leave the room. The air suddenly feels too heavy, too thin, to breathe, and you're trying desperately not to hyperventilate.

You hear the door slam shut behind Hiniwa as he exits.

"You were out of there pretty quick." He comments.

"Yeah."

"We should probably head to the dining hall for the trial."

"Yeah." Maybe you're just conserving your energy, but you can't get yourself to say anything longer than a single syllable right now. You start walking, expecting Hiniwa to do the same. He does, in silence, preferred to one-sided conversation. You decide to grab a knife from the Warehouse on your way out, not knowing what to expect. Hiniwa doesn't notice as you slip it into your hoodie pocket. Closer to the main building, he starts to speak.

"Do you know what this could indicate?" He sounds like he's been composing his thoughts for a while.

"What do you mean?" You manage to get out.

"Those bodies, the one missing, that entire room..."

"What about it, Hiniwa-kun?"

You enter the dining hall.

"Doesn't it seem suspicious?"

"Does _what_ seem suspicious?"

"Realistic corpses, fake bodies, almost, but not the real ones."

A pause as you walk up the stairs onto the stage.

" _And?_ "

"The possibility for a faked death."

" _So?_ "

"Ajiyama-kun," the doors to the elevator slid shut, and movement just barely starts downwards. "Anyone who has died so far could be the mastermind."

END Deadly Life

 


	32. Chapter Six: Demons Run, Demons Trip, Demons Fall: Class Trial- Part 1

"Anyone who has died so far could be the mastermind."

You are silent and still as the elevator hits the bottom and the doors slide open. Hiniwa steps out, but you're still frozen in your reaction to what he said.

_Anyone_.

The only people you can be sure aren't the mastermind anymore are yourself and Hiniwa. Not only are you both alive but you're sure _you're_ not the mastermind, and he's the spy. A double role wouldn't work out, it'd be too complicated.

You leave the elevator before the doors close again, but you don't know if you're actually ready for the trial.

The walls are made to look like trees, fresh pine scent included, the intensity of which is almost sickening. You hope the trial gets over with quickly if only for the reason of not wanting to smell it too long. The floor is the same packed dirt as all the paths outside. There are a few blood splatters around the perimeter, strikingly similar to the ones you've seen previously, but you hope they're fake.

You take your place at the same trial stand as always, straight across from monokuma. The room feels incredibly empty with 14 spots taken up by pictures rather than people. Matsuda's portrait has been pushed out of the way so that monokuma can stand there instead.

"Since I'll be participating in this trial, I need a place to stand." He elaborates without prompting. "This place just seemed the most convenient, since it's the closest to where I stand anyways."

"Can we get started with the trial, then?" Hiniwa asks. "I'd rather not waste time talking about anything unrelated."

"Alright then! Trial in session!" Monokuma shouts. Although nothing physically changes, the atmosphere does, focusing your thoughts to the case and the two across from you.

"Soushin's murder, that would be the first thing to talk about, right?" You say, glancing over at her portrait, freshly prepared, no doubt.

"Hmm? Hmm?" Monokuma hums. "'Murder'? That's what you said, right? Hmm? Isn't that a little bit presumptuous?"

"How do you mean?" Hiniwa asks.

"Well from what _I_ gathered in the case, it looks more like a suicide!" Monokuma explains. "From the knife in her hand down to the suicide note she sent, by text no less, to her beloved Tsuneo-chi!"

"Suicide note?" Hiniwa questions. "Then, have I been looking at this all wrong?"

"Yup! It was definitely a suicide!" Monokuma says. His face somehow looks smug, despite never actually changing.

"It isn't just open and shut like that." You say. If that were the case you wouldn't have to be having this pine tree scent headache. "Soushin's cause of the death in the monokuma file, even, it was _poisoning_. With the knife in her hand that's at the very least suspicious, so we can't glance over it for the sake of a short trial."

"And that's why you say it's murder?" Hiniwa asks.

"But couldn't the poison have been on the knife?" Monokuma asks. "I mean, that way it makes sense for the knife to be in her hand as well as that being the cause of death."

"I have more reasoning than just that discrepancy." You say. "I can still prove my argument."

"What? What?" Monokuma says. "You know, you can't just back up a major theory like that with only superstitions! You have to have solid evidence!"

"Would you shut up?!" You shout suddenly. "If I could actually just work through this like usual without you interrupting and refuting everything I say, you'd see that I do have evidence and I could-"

"Hey," Hiniwa interrupts. "Calm down. It'll be helpful if he stops talking, but getting worked up won't be."

"Sure." You sigh.

"So, what's your evidence, then?" Monokuma asks. You almost flame up again, but you stop yourself.

"If we consider the poisoning, well, I jump to one specific thing." You say. "What's the one poison that keeps coming back with different uses?"

"The Diaspara Toxin?" Hiniwa raises an eyebrow, just short of a gasp.

"I can't imagine it being anything else." You say. "And with the Diaspara Toxin, we know what timeframes it would have taken to kill her, either 18 hours before or at the time of death. Both of these times, I was asleep."

"That's not an alibi, you know." Monokuma taunts. "Since it can't be confirmed by anyone."

"But I do have confirmation." You say. "The security tapes in the Surveillance Room can be exported. I have a disc here that shows my exact location at both times. I couldn't have done it since I have this disc as my alibi."

"Well, what if it's a different poison?" Hiniwa asks. "Could there have been a different time frame, then? Neither of us knew even out own locations all last night."

"But I have video for those times as well." You say. "For this entire time, I've been exactly where I should be, doing exactly what I should be doing."

"And where does that get us?" Hiniwa asks.

"Well it looks like somebody has an alibi!" Monokuma declares. "That takes us one step closer to determining the culprit!"

"Right." You sigh inwardly. It looks like the only possibility might be-

"Ajiyama-kun." Hiniwa interjects in the middle of your thoughts. "By any chance, were you able to check my feed during those times as well? During the whole ordeal with the monokuma control room, I completely forgot to check it myself."

"I, I did check your video feed." You say. "But it, the entire thing, there were whole sections of video that were just static, hours worth of it. For the times related to the Diaspara Toxin, and some other times as well, there was nothing at all."

"The plot thickens." Monokuma chuckles teasingly.

There's a silence for a few long seconds where nobody knows what to say, as soon as it looks like monokuma is going to say something to admonish that, Hiniwa speaks up.

"Ah, but there's something that's been bothering me." He says. "In the monokuma file, her cause of death was listed as poisoning, yes, but it also says that she was stabbed ' _moments before death_ '. The timing is impeccable, and there are multiple explanations, but which is the true one?"

"It's probably just a coincidence." You say.

"It could my theory about poison on the knife!" Monokuma says. "Or that she stabbed herself at the same time to make sure she died after poisoning herself!"

"But what I was going to say was that it could be the _culprit's_ insurance, or a purposeful red herring."

"What do you mean?" Hiniwa asks.

"Well, the making sure she dies thing is pretty self-explanatory." You say. "But, since monokuma sometimes leaves things like the cause of death out of the file, if it looked like Soushin had been stabbed, and nothing said anything contrary to that, we'd be going through this trial right now as if that was what killed her."

"And how can you be sure it wasn't Soushin stabbing herself in an attempt of suicide at the time the poison someone else gave her would have affected her?" Hiniwa asks. "It still seems most likely that the act of using the knife was done by her."

"There's a glaring problem with that, though." You say.

"And what's that?"

"The knife was in Soushin's _right hand_ , correct?"

"That's right, why do you ask?"

"Soushin was _left handed_." You say. Both Hiniwa and monokuma gain confused expressions, so you explain your reasoning before they can even ask. "Everything she did, she always showed an extreme dominance for her left hand. The biggest confirmation is that she held her walking staff in her left hand. There's no reason someone who was right handed would hold something so important in the other hand, and the same goes for the knife. If Soushin was indeed left handed, and I have no doubt she was, then she wouldn't have had the knife in her right hand."

"And so she wouldn't have stabbed herself?" Hiniwa looks distressed.

"No, she wouldn't have." You reply.

"So what relevance does that fact have to what happened in the case?" He asks. "So Soushin was stabbed by someone else, but what are you trying to say?"

He's sweating you think, displaying a few other nervous ticks too. You point out something that's been bothering _you_ this whole time.

"I'm saying that the murderer might have stabbed Soushin and sent a fake message through her eHandbook to make it look like a suicide." You pause. "There's blood on your hands, Hiniwa."

You like how the statement is both literal and figurative, but that's not important right now.

"What are you trying to say?" He repeats, somehow more distressed than before.

"I was clear with what I said." You insist, your voice escalating. "Hiniwa-kun, you had all the opportunity to kill Soushin."

"What, what about motive, though?"

"I'm not worried about motive right now." You feel instant regret when you see him cringe at your shouting. "I'm just, I'm trying to solve the case just to get out alive."

"I don't see why we can't both finish this trial alive." There are tears brimming on the edges of his eyes.

"Because one of us killed her." There might be some in your eyes too. "It wasn't a suicide, I _know_ this, so one of us had to have done it. There's not, there's no other possibility."

"But I didn't hurt her!" He shouts suddenly. "There was blood everywhere, all I did was check for a pulse."

"Why did you need to check for a pulse?" You demand. "She was obviously dead!"

"I don't know, I don't-" He's struggling to come up with the words. "Soushin went there of her own volition, I gave her the doorknob so she could get into the glass room without the password, I-"

"Why was there blood on the doorknob?" You ask. He falls silent. "Wouldn't it have been easier for you to walk up there with her, under the guise of having to be there to use the doorknob, to make sure she died when she was supposed to, by any way possible? I'm just guessing here, after all, you weren't on the security tape at that time."

"But..." He tries to think of something, anything to say, you see it in his face. "I didn't kill her, I don't remember killing her."

"You don't have to remember." You say. "You don't remember nearly anything. The majority of your childhood, your status as the spy, however it is you get the information to the mastermind, you don't remember any of those things, so what reason is there that you would definitely remember killing Soushin? Especially considering what happened last night."

You hope you aren't right. You hope that this isn't the truth, but you don't see any other way it could have happened. You feel something on your face. You reach a hand up to wipe away hot tears just barely making their way to your cheeks.

"Well then!" Monokuma jumps up to a triumphant pose. You do not share the sentiment. "I think we know who did it, then! Are we ready for a vote? I'll be sure to cast a few myself just to make sure we reach the majority."

You cast your vote on the trial stand solemnly and silently. All you can do at the moment is change your hopes towards being right instead of wrong.

"I'm not ready..." You hear Hiniwa mutter, but it's too late.

You hear the clicks of a few more votes being cast. You don't look up to see how monokuma casts the extra ones, though the comedic relief of him running around to all of the other stands on his short little legs might be needed right now.

There's an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes. No confetti falls. Panic begins to set in right as monokuma speaks up.

"Alright then! Majority vote goes for Hiniwa Masanori!" He says. It confuses you. "I'll be holding the results for now! Wouldn't want one of you to have to figure out everything else on your own!"

"Right," Hiniwa mumbles. You still feel uneasy. He continues speaking. "So then, we're looking for the mastermind now, right monokuma?"

"Oh, right, yeah, get on that, or whatever." Monokuma replies.

You're still thinking about what Hiniwa said right before the trial, that anyone could be the mastermind. It makes things a lot harder for you now. There are still tears on your face, now drying to a tacky stickiness that is barely noticeable but still there.

"Do we have any leads?" You ask. It takes more effort to say than you expected. You blame it on the dried tears slowing your facial movements down.

"Possibly." Hiniwa murmurs in thought. "But, I told you, didn't I? It could be anyone."

Yes, he did tell you.

"Well, we can't just say it's anyone." You say. "We have to decide on someone or we'll fail the trial completely."

"Then where do we start?" He asks. "There were so many files."

"There's something to work off of though, as small a clue as it may be." You say. "The mastermind is almost definitely one of the sixteen of us who were trapped here. Even though that's still a relatively large number, it narrows things down a lot from the Earth's total population of 7 billion."

"Hmmmm? But where do you get an idea like that from?" Monokuma asks.

"Don't act stupid, you were the one who said it, monokuma." You reply. "Only sixteen people have ever set foot within the dome. There were sixteen of us at the start, so it makes perfect sense that one of them would be the one who started all of this."

"But couldn't it still be anyone?" Monokuma asks. "It'd be much easier to control everything if you're not inside the dome, if you're away from all the murder and danger, right? Plus that'd give extra reason to have a spy on the inside!"

"The mastermind couldn't have been outside the dome." You say. "Not unless there's a way in and out other than the giant door at the end of forest path 4, and even then they would still count as one of the 16 people. You see, the monokuma control room, and we _know_ that's what it is, so don't even try to say otherwise, it's inside the main building."

"You've got me there." Monokuma shrugs.

"So then, monokuma also mentioned that there are fifteen Hope's Peak students and one person who isn't a student, right?" Hiniwa confirms. "Therefore the mastermind is the sixteenth person hiding among the rest of us as if they were a real student. Didn't Otsuka have a fake talent?"

"No, though you have some good ideas there, you're still wrong." You say. "Hiniwa, we saw all the student files multiple times, and consistently the only one who didn't have a file was _you_. So unless you're trying to confess to being the mastermind-"

"I'm not." He says quickly. "I just didn't realize that it was me."

"Okay," you sigh. "And if we go by process of elimination, I know it's not me, and it can't be you because you're already the spy."

"Oh? Oh?" Monokuma starts. "Couldn't there be a double role?"

"It's not Hiniwa-kun." You say firmly, in an effort to shut monokuma up. "Why reveal yourself as a spy and make yourself suspicious if you are the mastermind? It might make a good red herring but it would draw so much attention that it would end up being worthless."

"We can't use process of elimination." Hiniwa says, changing the subject. "There isn't anything we can use to rule anyone out. All the deaths, everything everyone's done, it's all the same opportunity."

"Then maybe," You hum in thought. "We could look at it the other way around? Who would have it to easiest to pull off?"

"Probably someone who got executed." He says. "Those fake bodies; it's be hard to use one of those where we could closely examine and investigate it. We'd notice it wasn't real."

"That's still six people," you sigh. "And it's not a guarantee either."

"Let's roll with it." He says. "Out of those six, we saw three of those bodies. Emmi is an irregular case, they didn't need to use the fake corpse in the first place, but we saw their body mauled up as they exited the machine, and with all the jumping around they did prior to that, I doubt it was faked."

"So it wasn't Emmi." You say to push things forwards. "And likely, for the easiest route, it wasn't Keina-san or Shibou either."

"Yes, so that leaves Kawada-san, Shiroju-kun, and," there's a pause in his speech. "Matsuda-san." He still sounds upset over her death. "We never saw the way they actually died, or even their corpses."

There's something you've been ignoring this whole time, maybe just because you wanted to forget it. It would have been so much easier to just block that from your memory and not have to worry about it, to never have to think about it again.

"The Haunted House." The words you say are only a weak breath that falls out of your lips with fear and dread of your own memory.

"What?" Hiniwa asks.

"Before the previous trial." The dreaded previous trial. "I went through the Haunted House. I never, never told anyone what I saw there."

"Is it important?" Hiniwa asks you, and then to monokuma: "Can he say it?"

"Well there was never any rule against it!" Monokuma says. "He's been withholding information of his own volition!"

You're silent. You don't exactly want to remember it. It's still unsettling to you.

"Ajiyama-kun," Hiniwa's voice is soft, but it still grates at your ears, your thoughts. "Can you say it?"

"In the Haunted House," you struggle with your words. "Everyone, Kaisui to Shibou, all of them,"

Hiniwa is patient with you.

"There corpses were there, unpreserved, rotting." You finally manage to spit out. "The culprits were strung up like, like puppets, there's no way any of those bodies were fake. They had to have died, for real." You stare down towards your trial stand. Your knuckles are white from gripping at the edge. Your breathing is labored. "There were acidic burns all over Kawada's body. Shiroju was beheaded."

"That's enough." Being told to stop talking at this point is a relief. "I think I understand, so only any deaths from Oshima onwards could have been faked." You nod. "So we should have been looking at those six all along."

"No."

"Hm?"

"No, Hiniwa." You say. "We decided it couldn't be Emmi."

"Okay, so fine then, a simple mistake in my speaking." He's still wrong.

"You investigated all four of those corpses with your own hands, Hiniwa." You say. "Tell me, were those fake? Were the organs you pried apart in Oshima's chest and Odori's stomach fake?!"

"They could have been, we didn't have time to investigate how complex-"

"You're missing the point. For the second trial in a row now you're missing the point just because you don't want to see it." Your sentences are punctuated strongly. You keep leaning farther forward on your trial stand. You hope it doesn't break. "Matsuda-san, she-"

Monokuma bursts out laughing in the middle of your barely started sentence.

"Are you kidding me? That weakling?" He's cackling. "She could barely make it through a sentence, let alone a murder! I couldn't have believed she did it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes!"

"Stop it." Hiniwa's voice escalates as he speaks. "Stop insulting her, neither of you have the right!"

"I'm not insulting her, I'm not trying to." You insist. "I-"

"That's right! You're accusing her! Isn't it bad enough that she's already dead?! Isn't it enough that we killed her?!"

"Hiniwa," you try to attempt to talk him back down, but it seems to only rile him up more.

"Stop it! What did she do to deserve you accusing her? This entire time she's been just in the wrong place at the wrong time." You notice he's slipped back into the fake accent.

"This isn't just a coincidental accusation." You say. "I'm not going to persecute her for anything she hasn't done."

"But that's exactly what you're doing! You-"

"Hiniwa you're having a breakdown and I haven't even been able to present anything but the idea of her being the mastermind." You point out. You don't note on the accent, though. "You must know that there is evidence behind my theory to have such a strong reaction. What were those blueprints that you stole off of the door of the Test Site? What did you read in the large file about mutual killing games? You know even more in support of this than I do, yet you deny it."

You're surprised at all that you are saying. You continue.

"Her talent, as ridiculous as it sounded, it was her real talent. Super High School Level Time Travel Theorist. For someone who has achieved the ability to time travel, this whole affair would be easier to pull off. Kidnapping students, setting up the dome, faking deaths, it all becomes easier if there are no time restraints."

"But, but that's but science fiction." He stutters. "It would take years of research to figure out everything behind being able to do that."

"Have you not been listening?" Monokuma taunts. "Time isn't an issue!" He puts on a sour face. "Hey, Ajiyama, aren't you supposed to be arguing with me over the mastermind, not some washed up spy? I'm feeling a little left out on the action, if you know what I mean."

"Does it matter as long as we figure it out correctly?" You ask.

"It matters if you're not even using any of the clues that I left for you!" He shouts. "You're just going off of a hunch! That's dangerous, don't you know?"

"What clues?" You ask. "Aside from the blueprints, there were no clues about the mastermind, all I have to go on _is_ a hunch."

"I would have thought it was obvious, or that you would remember it at least, it was in your favorite death site, after all!"

"What are you talking about?" Hiniwa asks. "What are you getting at?"

"God, it was in plain sight, you know?" Monokuma sighs. "The page from the notebook! The page where poor old Matsuda-san explains her tragic back story! Not to mention the other things! That little blurb in her file that you got! Her name being in the mutual killings file in the fucking index! Ugh! This is getting so fuckening frustrating!"

Monokuma's voice cracked at the end of his shout-monologue. It was familiar, a familiar angered voice.

"I'm getting tired and bored waiting for two shitty useless boys to figure this out!"

And then he goes silent. The entire courtroom goes silent. Not a sound can be heard.

Slowly on the wall behind where monokuma stands, artificial trees move apart from each other. Cartoonish smoke flows through small openings. There's a light show going on overhead, with conspicuously missing music. You watch attentively, waiting for whatever is about to happen.

A silhouette steps into the room through the smoke. Slowly as the smoke clears, you notice more details. Long-ish flowing silver hair on one side, short spiked and blackish blue on the other. A long coat, half black leather, half white cotton. A color scheme split down the middle, completed with tweed converse and a tacky scarf, from the ends of which mini monokuma heads dangle.

She steps up to the trial stand that's been hers from the beginning, throwing aside the monokuma, now just a doll, which was stationed there in wait. She leans forwards on her wrists pressed up against the podium ledge, smiling with an unfamiliar, uncomfortable, and unsettling expression. Her words bite at your ears.

"Surprise Bitches, I bet you thought you'd seen the last of me!"

It's such an outdated meme.

END Part 1

3 Players remain

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are always encouraged!


	33. Chapter Six: Demons Run, Demons Trip, Demons Fall: Class Trial- Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the end, the thrilling conclusion, where many but not all of your questions are answered! Delivered as soon as I finished the art for it! I hope you enjoy! Warnings for implicated gore this chapter, just skip the part with elipses if you don't want to see it.

"M-Matsuda-san," Hiniwa says timidly. You're even more wordless than he is. Just coming out and giving away the answer like Matsuda did, it almost seems like a red herring, but she looks too real to somehow be something else fake, another lie.

"Took ya long enough, didn't it?" Matsuda sighs. "I was honestly just getting so completely bored watching you talk yourselves in circles. Did I really not leave enough clues? Maybe if I hadn't waited so long and there had been more of you left to solve the mystery, but then I wouldn't have won!"

"What do you even mean, 'won'?" You ask. "Also, why does it smell like fucking pine trees in here? It's really annoying."

"Oh, it's just so sad that none of you know. If you did, then you could share this victory with me." She sighs again. It looks like she's going to completely ignore your pine tree question. "It's so great. They're all trying so hard to catch up, making dangerous deals, but they never will catch up! Within the hour I'll have secured my place as the best of the worst!"

"You're not making any sense." You say. Already, talking to her is becoming exasperating.

"Well of course I'm not making sense! You can't just start a book in the middle and expect to know all of the characters and context already! You have to start at the boring beginnings!" She says. "You see, those boring beginnings are the settings, and then you read and you understand the motives of everything that happens later on, but I'm not going to help with any of that, you see. I told you that you'd have to figure out that on your own." She holds her hands behind her back with a faux innocent smile.

"You showing up doesn't help or hurt us at all." Hiniwa is clearly upset. "What's the point, why?"

"Hmm? Or is it actually hurting or helping and you just don't notice?" Matsuda asks cryptically. "Besides, I _literally_ just told you that you have to figure out the motives yourself."

You try to think of a place to start figuring everything else out. A _place_ maybe?

"So where are we?" You ask. "And I'm not just asking you for the answer, Matsuda-san."

"But we're just in the forest though, right?" She teases. "Though we're really in the trial room _underneath_ the forest, so maybe that doesn't count."

"Then why does it fucking smell like pine trees?!" You ask again, more bothered this time.

"I take every detail into account when planning my decor for my trial rooms!" She says with a wink.

"Anyways," you groan. "That's not what I'm concerned about, and stop contributing to the conversation if you're only trying to make things harder for us."

"You mean the dome, right?" Hiniwa asks, getting back on track. You nod to confirm. "How it got here and why we're in it."

"Yes." You say. "And I think I have an idea of it."

"Hm?"

"One of the programs created by the Future Foundation was a series of artificial environment domes which would contain entire self sufficient environments inside while remaining completely separate from the outside world, it was meant for helping people recovering from trauma, but was ultimately deemed inefficient. Only five of the domes were ever made."

"But it _was_ inefficient, right?" Matsuda asks. "It was replaced with the Neo World Program almost entirely, wouldn't it be easier to, say, create a virtual environment that mimicked the domes as a red herring?"

"I don't think the Neo World Program could have been used." You reply. "It could just be a hunch, but if things fit together the way they should,"

You look to Hiniwa for backup on what you're about to say, but he looks bewildered. This one will be a monologue, then.

"The Neo World Program was corrupted." Hiniwa's eyes light up with the answer just as you're about to speak, you let him continue. "During the Island Life of Mutual Killing, a virus was spread in the system, Alter Ego Junko, so it must have stopped them from reusing it, as long as that was actually in the past."

"There's no future left for you anyways." Matsuda titters. "So I couldn't have taken evidence from anywhere except the past!"

"Right." You say.

"But there's no doubt that this is one of those domes, right?" Hiniwa asks. "Does that get us anywhere?"

"Yes." You say, certain. "In the theater, you didn't actually see it, but there was an email log between two sections of the Future Foundation discussing plans for some refugees. It was going between someone under the name 'Division 1 Central' and another named 'Division 14 Jabberwock'."

"Jabberwock, so that implies that those were the people controlling the Neo World Program?"

"Right, they were actually talking about just that, but Division 14 mentioned the corruption, suggesting that they use another program to deal with those refugees."

"But the program isn't what we're worried about." Hiniwa says. "We just covered that."

"No, what I'm concerned with are those refugees." You say. "I think I know their origin, but only slightly better than the people writing the articles."

"Oh, ho, ho! Are we getting somewhere?" Matsuda taunts.

"The first piece of evidence I found, aside from the Student Notebooks and everything pertaining to Soushin's death, so I guess it's not really the first at all, but anyways, I found it." You backtrack through your sentence. "It was a newspaper clipping about 30 students who had gone missing only to have been discovered dead in a bombing incident. Later, in a different piece of evidence, I found out that those same 30 students had been rediscovered by the future foundation with no explanation as to how they got there."

"And those were the refugees?" Hiniwa asks.

"Yes," you say. "And those refugees were us. We found those 61 student files, 30 of those are the refugees from the 76th and 77th classes of Hope's Peak Academy, and 15 of those, were the 15 of us here."

"And what about all of the other files?" Matsuda questions.

"There was a piece of paper in the collection of student files." Hiniwa says. "It labeled them as the student files of people involved in mutual killing games. 16 of them were probably from the original School Life, and another 15 from the Island Life. I even recognized some of the names while skimming through."

"That still leaves the other fifteen unaccounted for." She pouts. "You're not even going to try and find them?"

"Of course we'll figure it out." You say. "But I'm not sure if it's immediately relevant."

"Could they be from the tragedy?" Hiniwa asks.

"No." You answer flatly. "That was a massacre, perpetrated by Kamukura Izuru, he was the only person who killed anyone. It's not a killing game by the same terms as the ones we're familiar with. Let's just move on without it."

"Hm? Do you not care?" Matsuda drops the mood. "Fifteen other students trapped in a killing game, and you don't care? They could be dying this instant, but you won't cast a second thought towards them?"

"That's not what I'm trying to do." You say.

"Oh, but you're doing it, aren't you? You're being so self-centered that you can't worry about helping them. I thought you were worried about your poor sister Yoshie. Did you change your mind?"

"Yoshie?"

"Ahahaha! There it is! The shock! The worry! I knew I could get to you with that!" Matsuda cackles. You're still frozen in space. "What, you couldn't figure it out on your own? Your little sister, two years younger than you but so amazing that she skipped a year, is accepted into Hope's Peak. If you didn't see her file among those you looked through, then just ask him," she gestures to Hiniwa.

His lips form a tight frown. You're not quite sure how, but you just know somehow that he saw the file, without him even having to say anything.

You don't have the words to describe the ache you feel in this very moment.

"So then, what happened to your sister and the fourteen other students with her?" Matsuda allows no time for recovery. "Do you wanna know? I'm sure you really do. Oh damn, I just can't stand waiting through you struggling to figure it out. They're in another killing game! Isn't that just marvelous?!"

That's the opposite of marvelous. You can't help wondering what she's getting at here.

"It was a contest you see," she explains. "Multiple killing games set up concurrently, to find out who can kill the most people the quickest. And I've won! You see! I've definitely won!"

" _Why?_ " Hiniwa asks. "What reason could you possibly have to do this?"

"To mimic Enoshima." You say. "This entire thing is mimicking the games that Enoshima brought to action."

"Well of course!" She exclaims. "Matsuda will always fall to Lady Junko's despair! But I'm not just mimicking her, I will surpass her, and spread her ideals and her despair throughout time and space!"

"But what is _your_ despair?" You ask. "Why follow her so intently, weren't you one of us? Didn't you need a chance to recover just like the rest of us?"

"Let me tell you a story." Matsuda's face goes blank, nowhere near her previous crazed taunting. "A young girl loses two of the three sole people of value in her life, only to throw herself completely into what she believes is the only way to get them back. She gains reckless anxiety and paranoia, which are never diagnosed or treated because she lacks the time to do anything other than her work.

"Her mother dies during an experiment. She's left completely alone. Her method of salvation has led her to damnation. There's no reason to interact with anyone now. All she can trust is federal funding and her own thoughts.

"Due to the 'progress' she makes in her work, she gets accepted into a prestigious school. She spends three years there, three years, finally learning again to trust people, three years learning all the nonscientific things she never knew. Three years down the drain.

"The Apocalypse begins. Students from her prestigious school are forced into hiding, lest they be killed by their very own ex-classmates or rioters in the streets. Even from the shelter where a group of them hide, they're still able to watch their underclassmen, the 78th class, in the School Life, murdering each other brutally. The bleached-blonde pigtail girl at the end of the storyline plants a seed in the heart of the original girl which cannot be killed.

"Their shelter is destroyed. A few delicately placed bombs go off in succession, setting the entire building aflame. They're forced to flee, but all of the exits are blocked. There are flashes of light, voices calling to them that they follow.

"They all end up outside of a building with no idea how they got there. They are traumatized by the bombing, shaken so much that they cannot function. The people inside the building promise to help, but they only endanger things. They erase their memories, place them inside a dome program with no way to contact in or out, expecting good things to happen.

"Good things do not happen. They replicate the killing that they forgot seeing in the shelter, complete with a twin sister's body being found unexpectedly before the fifth trial, a trial in which the culprit is framed.

"She is executed, left with the vision of the culmination of her work and told to complete it. She does, and it finally works. Everyone who is watching from the outside thinks that she is dead. The light and sound given off appear to be an explosion. But she lives.

"Her dream for so many years, to save those important people to her, she abandons it, realizing a paradox which must be ratified. She'll be locked in these time loops for as long as she can remember after that. The very foundation that claimed to save her before would give her an award if they knew all she did, rescuing so many people, delivering thirty students at their doorstep. But she has to do all of this silently. No one can know she exists. She hangs in the shadows, silently offering advice.

"Something breaks. She finds out the truth about her father and her best friend in the train crash so many years ago. They were late to the station. They missed the train. They were alive. Not her mother, though, her mother could never be brought back.

"Everything she had done so far had been futile. Working so hard to save so many people, and the people she really wanted to save had never been gone in the first place. She had been so absorbed with her work that she listened to no one who tried to tell her.

"She stabilized the last time loop. She found him, and made a plan with him. They planned to ruin the still recovering world together. They corrupted the programs set up just to save her. They were happy together. It was a pleasant game."

There's silence after she finishes the exposition while you analyze all that she said and try to formulate a response. She looks sad. Is the taunting a facade? Does she really, truly, _want_ to be doing this?

You look at Hiniwa. He seems to be just as shocked and confused as you are. Matsuda's expression doesn't change as she begins to speak.

"It was a good game. I think." She says. "I put a lot of effort into it, you know. I really deserve to win, after all I've done."

You can tell the wide smile she gives is fake because of the tears she's blinking away from her eyes.

"You don't have to do this." You offer.

"Of course I do." Her voice is cold with a fake jovial quality. "I've seen my future, and you've seen yours. You both have. I know how this ends. Justice, I'm sorry."

Cold swollen eyes turn to Hiniwa.

"Justice?" He asks. "Why are you talking about 'justice' at a time like this? You're responsible for the death of _so many_ people. You have no room to talk about _justice_."

Your first tip that there's something fishy going on is that they're both saying the word "justice" in English.

"No, you don't understand." Matsuda's jeer confirms your suspicion. "Justice is a person. A young boy, terrified of the killing he was raised to do. Little Matsuda Justice came running back to his mother. He was supposed to be playing the game with his younger brother, but I was a fool to ever think he could. I gave him the best chance he could get. Even if that chance was a rigged game to get him to die first. Isn't that right, Masa-chan? Justice-chan?"

You're not entirely clear on what has just been revealed. You grip the edge of your trial stand in anticipation for whatever more explanation she's going to dole out.

"Who are you talking about?" Hiniwa asks.

"I didn't raise you to be an idiot." Matsuda says. You can't quite find the word for her tone. She's possibly upset, or making fun of him. "I _know_ you're not one. But you keep acting like one. Hiding secrets in ways that hurt people, sacrificing yourself, for what? For him? I never understood love like that. I'm just too selfish, I guess."

"Of course you're being selfish." You say. "You're just teasing us with unclear statements and half complete facts without actually helping anyone else!"

"But I've told you so much already. How can you call that selfish?" She asks. "I even saved your lives!... Of course, that was only so I could be the one to kill you in the end! I gave you safety, shelter, and you call me selfish. Don't you remember how nice I've been to you? Justice, don't you remember how you grew up?"

"I don't know who you're talking about." Hiniwa is starting to collapse into himself, leaning forward with his hands over his ears and his fingers weaving through his hair. "I don't know who you're talking about!"

"Oh, so you don't remember it? That small, pure white room? Meals delivered to the door? Nobody to talk to, but plenty of entertainment; recorded TV shows, books, movies, board games, decks of cards, anything you could ever want, except for a friend. The best birthday gift you ever got was being allowed into the yard. Try as I might I could never stop you from running into one of the other, only rush you back once it happened. I still find it funny, you never realized. That room, the sole containment of all of your childhood memories," Matsuda slams her hands down on the trial stand for emphasis. "It was a prison cell. Solitary confinement. Eighteen years, though it was only two on the outside. I did get paid to design something like that for prisons, a stasis chamber. It's a whole lot more convenient if the prisoners' sentences can be sped up for all the guards and operators."

You can hear Hiniwa's breath catching from across the room. You want to go to him. You don't.

"Are you going to start crying?" Matsuda asks. "You can't handle the truth. I know you've realized it already. Why don't you just spit it out?"

"I don't want it to be true." He whispers.

"Oh! So you do realize! And such self-awareness, too! I'm still not proud of you, though."

"Justice..." Hiniwa's voice is broken and croaking. He's crying. "I will become Justice. I will defeat you. I will stop you from doing this."

The heroic stance he takes is inspiring, smiling bright with determination through the tears. His expression is crushed at the next statement.

"Hm? Isn't it a bit late for that?" She questions. She tilts her head to the side to indicate confusion. "What justice is left to be had, when all but two people are dead, and you've already voted to kill another?"

"There's still something." Hiniwa says. "We can do _something_."

"There's no time left." Matsuda says. "We've already sealed our fated. When you thought you had solved the case, and you voted for 'Hiniwa Masanori' there was no turning back. Do you mind if I take a turn to go through the case?"

You're too afraid to say anything. You can't even move your head for a simple yes or no. Your knuckles are white. Your breathing is heavy.

"I'll start then." She says.

~

<Closing Argument>

At the time of the motive, a unique kind of starvation motive based mostly on the inability of the three alive students cooking wise, all of the readymade food was locked up, leaving them with only water, wine, and raw mystery meat.

But there was something none of them knew! The mystery meat, before being put in the fridge, had been tampered with! Some unidentified suspect put a variety of poisons into the chickeny flesh. It took a lot of searching through the lab to have enough variety that the usage would be unpredictable.

So for a day or so after the motive, the three people are nothing and were sad and hungry, until one of the people decided to try to cook something, taking some of the poisoned meat and setting to preparing it.

The food was so awful, that the victim, Soushin Ritsu, only took one bite, but that was all it took! You see, the poison used is one that is highly concentrated and hard to dilute, consistently killing after 12 hours of wait time. Shortly before death it increases heart rate and thins the blood, sometimes causing victims to bleed out if they get even a small cut rather than die by the poison's other effects.

Skipping forward to the time of death, the victim almost did bleed out. It would have if not for the acute timing on the victim's part, stabbing herself to commit suicide right as the poison took effect. What a coincidence, right?!

And then! And then, after that, during the investigation and trial, 'Hiniwa Masanori' started incriminating himself to protect that person; the true murderer. That person poisoned Soushin Ritsu and then willingly pinned her death on someone else.

As you have probably figure out already, that person was Ajiyama Tsuneo! The true killer!

~

If you were shocked before, you had no idea what was going to come next.

"So, what do you think, did I do the summation _justice_??" Matsuda asks. "I know I did it differently than you normally do, but I at least know the actual facts of the situation, so it's not just speculation. It was caught all on camera!"

"What," it's the first word out of your mouth in a while. "What are you talking about?"

"I thought I made it simple enough for you to understand." She sighs. She takes a few steps counter clockwise, nearing herself to Hiniwa. He tenses up. He's still crying, and it gets worse the closer she gets. "You see, when you persecuted my _dear_ son Justice, he went along with it. He had concocted a plan behind your back that would let you live, and him die. He figured out that as long as one of you two was the one who did it, if you voted for him those would be the end results. It was a two third's chance, but maybe it seemed like better odds in his eyes."

You don't want to be angry with Hinwia, not even frustrated with that look in his eyes. Fear, it's called. Mortal dear, worsening each time Matsuda takes a step in approach.

"And what would you have done if it was a suicide?" You ask him. He startles at the confrontation. "I'm upset enough that you're letting yourself die, but why? It was a risk as it is. You didn't have to do this."

"Hiniwa is blubbering, almost unable to reply.

"I though, I thought this was a good thing." Matsuda is silent, taking each step slowly as Hiniwa speaks. "And then, still, if we were wrong we would, we would die together." Matsuda places a hand on Hiniwa's shoulder. He froze. He nails are long and sharp, painted bright red.

"Why die if we could both live?" You ask. "Right, Matsuda-san? If someone successfully wins a trial, they can bring someone out with them. That's part of the rules, right?"

"Yes, that's true, but well." Matsuda leans against the back of Hiniwa, her face is close to his ear. "There was a little catch to that which never got brought up. You see, whoever is voted for must die regardless of status in innocence or guilt. Besides, he's not the teammate of the person you killed, or your own teammate. That special offer was only for chapter three. Not to mention, your teammate is already out, released preemptively."

"What?!" You shout.

"Oh, yes, Masuyo is alive, I'll tell you the details later, but for now, I've been waiting for this part."

Matsuda places all of her weight forward onto Hiniwa. There's a terrifying smile on her face as she leans over his shoulder.

"Congratulations, Tsuneo-chi."

In one swift movement she pulls back and shoves that hand of sharpened nails...

...

She shoves it...

...

...

Straight through his chest.

...

You're going to be sick.

His heart still beats for a few seconds afterwards, before stopping completely.

The light leaves his eyes.

Matsuda thrashes her arm, throwing his heart to the ground before sliding her hand out the back of his chest with a slick squelching noise.

He falls limp to the floor, a jumble of limbs.

Matsuda smashed his heart with her foot and grinds it into the ground. It's just red mush now. She speaks out, continuing the statement you've already forgotten.

"You've won."

There's blood everywhere. You use the trial stand to support yourself, to stop from collapsing as well. You're feeling dizzy.

Matsuda marches the rest of the half circle to come near you now. She's covered in blood. You desperately want to avoid her, but there's nowhere to run to.

"So, about your sister." She says. She runs a hand through your hair, leaving it bloodstained, particularly swirling a few strands at the top around her finger. "I have a proposition for you, involving her."

"Masuyo isn't alive." You say. "We saw her body, we solved her murder."

"Hm? And why does a fake trial to frame somebody have to have a real body?" She asks. "You found it yourself, that room, that one missing fake. You know, if you look at the original publication date of her death scene, it was Good Friday, and it's been three days since then... Welcome to Easter Sunday, the tomb is opening to reveal that the body was never there all along."

"But that fake body was used to fake _your_ death." You say. "Wasn't that it?"

"You were the one who investigated the 'Test Site', right?" She questions, moving to the other side of you. You shift your defenses. "There was no blood there, no evidence of a human being in the explosion except for a rainbow colored scarf left behind."

"But then, how..."

"I told you, the time machine worked. It looked enough like an execution from the outside. There never was a body for Matsuda. Well, I mean, there was, but she's standing right here, alive. Nope, Masuyo's body was definitely the fake one. She's out there somewhere, loose in the world outside that door, but in reality, I've still got her trapped. I can give her back to you if you make a certain deal with me."

"Anything." You find yourself saying. "I'll do anything  to bring Masuyo back."

"Anything, really?" Matsuda titters a bit to herself. "Well, you see, there's been an opening ever since, well, I guess you just saw it!"

She guffaws. She comes around to the front of you, pushing you farther from the trial stand. "And of course if there's an opening, there needs to be a filling. You'd be working with the brother he abandoned." She glares over her shoulder. "You'd save your sister, but only at an extreme price. Are you willing to pay it?"

You think for a minute, fumbling with hands in your pockets. Her gaze remains locked on your face. She grows impatient.

"Well?" She demands. "What's your answer? Will you do it?!"

Ah. You take your hands out of your pockets.

"Yes."

You twist the knife in her stomach before letting her fall to the ground.

It's over.

It's all over.

END Chapter Six.

ONE player remains.


	34. Epilogue: Nothing Left to Mourn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it! The final chapter!

Matsuda's body has the opportunity to slump against you before you shove it to the ground. There's blood all over your favorite hoodie, and if it weren't for the fact one of you isn't breathing, it would be hard to tell who just stabbed who.

You really do wish this were actually all over, but there's too much left to do.

You kneel down to check her pulse, further soiling your outfit, and you notice the lifeless quality to her eyes. It's not something you've never seen before, what with all of the murders and executions, but something about it bothers you as if it's something new. Of course, it would be that this is the first time you've personally killed someone and seen them afterwards, except that's not true. After all, Soushin is-

You shake your head for a few moments, trying to clear your thoughts. There's no reason to think about things like that now. There's nothing you can do.

You've lost your sense of urgency, not just that, but the entire motivation behind trying to survive is gone. Nothing has a point. Everyone is dead.

No, not everyone.

Matsuda could have easily been lying to you. There's no reason left at this point to believe that she wouldn't, but something is telling you that she wasn't, not about this.

Masuyo is alive. Call it whatever strange thing like "intuition" or "twin sense," but you're sure. You have to find her, you have to retrace her steps, go where she would have. Neither of you have to be alone if you can. Even if everyone else is gone, it doesn't matter as long as she's by your side.

Maybe the inspiring speech to yourself is a waste of time. Maybe a wild goose chase for your sister is too, but that's not going to stop you at this point. You're not going to give up on living just yet, so you've got to have some purpose to keep you going. If you pour yourself into this, maybe you'll even be successful.

You cling to whatever hope left you can find. It's a rare chance to bring someone back from the dead, and it's not one you'll give up on easily.

The smell of death begins to assault your senses. You got so caught up in your thoughts that you forgot about the corpse in front of you. It's not like you have an obligation to get rid of it, but you also don't feel excited about hanging around it. You can't stay here anyways, with your goal in mind. So you stand up. The ground, along with your clothes, is soaked in blood. It's just barely began to dry to a sticky feeling. You don't feel like going back to your room to change, though. You'll get used to it eventually you're sure.

The trial elevator doesn't exactly feel slow, but it's lonely, since there's nobody to talk to along the way. You step out at the top without relief or dread or any emotion really. Leaving is a difficult idea. So many things happened here.

You say goodbye to the trial room for what you hope is forever. You say goodbye to the glass atrium, and to the test site, and the recording studio, the junkyard, forest path 3, the carnival grounds, the hospital, the shopping district, the science lab, the theater, the warehouse, the greenhouse, the laundry room, the computer lab, the graveyard.

You're not usually the type to be sentimental, but this is a big shift in your life. Everything is about to change.

Without having to make a conscious thought, your legs carry you all the way to the door at the end of forest path 4. It's already wide open, a hole in reality, rather than just a door to escape.

It's a few short steps to your freedom in reality, but metaphorically, there's more than that. Either way it's time to start walking.

~

I walked as quietly as I could. The night was quiet, and if this were to go correctly, then I'd need to not alert anyone. This included doing everything I could not to wake anyone up. If they did, and they found me, then everything I had done so far to get to this point would be useless. If so much work was lost, and I had to start over, well, I would, but I wouldn't be happy about it.

I had taken off my shoes to evade detection by the sound of my footfalls. In most situations that wouldn't seem like much of a big deal, but right now it was. The wind at night blew cold against my face, despite the hoodie I had taken from Tsuneo's closet with the utmost of stealth. He had been passed out in his bed, and wasn't the lightest sleeper, so there wasn't much of a worry there, but still some. The hoodie did help keep me slightly warmer, but nothing could help a bare face except for something ridiculous like a ski mask. Just because this was a mission of stealth didn't mean it was a burglary.

I approached the large, metal, circular door at the end of forest path 4. I had memorized three codes which I was supposed to use here, all five digit numbers. Before leaving for this I at least triple-checked that they were correct using the archive door, which would also accept them, but only when correct. Obviously the person in charge didn't heed the warning to not use the same passwords for everything.

I prepared myself to type in the fifteen numbers.

First, "89467," which was supposed to be the code awarded to whoever made it through the Haunted House. Using the keypad on an old flip phone with an English keyboard, one could find the meaning "twins" within the numbers. The meaning didn't mean much to me, if it was true, probably just a random word. It's not like I would know if the meaning had been in the Haunted House; I had stolen it off of the security tapes and files stored in the archive, just like the next one.

"58656." This was from the murder motive back before the fourth trial, the same one that monokuma had said nobody received. I figured this one also had a meaning using that old keyboard trick, but I didn't know it or its meaning, so it had no importance to me as long as it unlocked the door. It did feel like I was skipping over things, but I had no choice but to ignore the bothered feelings. The next and last password, however, I knew the meaning of very well, and it gave me much more than just "bothered feelings."

"13570"

Just thinking about the meaning behind those numbers makes me so upset that I feel sick. Then, and now, I can't bare it. I can't even manage to write it down, though I'm sure whoever will find my notebook and is reading this will wonder what it could be. Trust me reader, you don't want to know.

I approached the door which stood so imposingly in front of me. Remembering all of the buildings, everything from this cursed place that I was leaving behind, they all seemed insignificant now. I knew I was headed towards something greater.

As I approached, a small panel opened up on the metal door, which we had called the "locked door." I was about to ruin its namesake, but I didn't really care that much. I was sure none of the others would care either. Escape was more important to me. I had to stop Tsuneo.

The small panel turned out to be a display with a key pad beneath it. On the screen were three empty lines with five slots for digits each, labeled with small pieces of tape to the left side. How kind to leave a hint as to the order of the codes. I punched in each number carefully. More than a few guns were pointed at my head, prepared to shoot if I got even one digit wrong.

As I pressed the fifteenth key in a row, the artillery surrounding me began to move. I flinched before I realized they were moving away, instead of readying to fire. As small door opened within the face of the large one.

I stepped forward, into the light.

No,

Into darkness.

~

A hooded figure approached the body, left behind from the trial to go cold and rot, one of the two, anyways. The figure did not care about the girl who had betrayed him so much and so many times. She was unreliable, even if she was one of the only friends he had ever known. There was not enough time to carry both of them anyways, and self preservation is strong in all persons of all species.

He knelt to the ground. A puddle of blood stained the cloth on his knees, and reached through to tint the skin below as well. The front of his chest was a difficult sight to see, and nerves all along the left side of his body had already lost function completely. The right side had managed to hold on long enough to enable revival. It wasn't natural that this should happen, but it wasn't as if he had had a natural upbringing.

The figure hooked his arms under the knees of the body and around the back. He stood up, lifting him, not saying a word. It all would have looked like some sort of ritual, with the solemn respect he had for this corpse.

He walked quietly and gracefully, while still retaining speed, leaving the trial room for good. There wasn't much time left.

And there was a lot of work to be done.

~

You spend the majority of your time going between two small rooms. One of them, the one which holds a bed, is filled with monitors, hard to navigate, and the faces on the screens make you feel like you're being watched, when really you're the one who's supposed to be watching them. You're getting even less sleep than you normally do, which is saying something.

The other room is even smaller, but you prefer it. Slowly, over time, you've gotten used to the controls there. You play your part and wait patiently for the day you can return to her.

You forget so many things during your time there. You forget the hope you once held for escape. You forget the bonds you forged with classmates who had forgotten you. You forget her voice, her smile, her laugh, the way she cared about you.

You forget why you ever agreed to this in the first place over time, as well.

But you'll never forget that one thing, that you have to save her. You have to save her before you can save yourself.

There's nothing else you can do.

You think about what led you to where you are now.

Her promise of being able to rescue the most important person you've ever known had seemed so, well, promising. You thought you could cheat her out of whatever rules she had planned to trap you, but as soon as you crossed the threshold out of the dome which had held you for three weeks, she was right there waiting for you.

You had checked for a pulse, you knew she should have been dead. You'd been through hell to make sure she wouldn't be able to do anything ever again, but there she was. You had completely underestimated what her life's work could do. And it's true, you met her at the end of her timeline, if things had been linear she wouldn't have come back, but they weren't. Linear thought has lost all meaning to you.

She jumped around how it suited her, and once she had prepared herself and everything else to die, that was when she met you. It was confusing. At the time, you disregarded it in favor of moving on, but there was so much time to think now.

She showed you around the different facilities that allowed her to do everything she did, a house with multiple time stasis chambers, where he had grown up, the burnt remains of the prototype time machine which you saw before and its successor, much more sleek and slim. The time jump device could fit around the wrist, almost like a bulky watch. She gifted you one, with limited access to its abilities.

She ignored most of those things though, and used the newer, larger machine to take you back a long while. You still don't know for sure how much. From there you met his younger brother, the one you were to be working with. He didn't speak in the same fake accent, or remind you of him in any good way. She leaves the two of you to sort things out for yourselves on how you plan to run your game. You never really got the idea through your head. You didn't expect to be following through on the deal you made.

He told you that you should stay locked up and play the part of monokuma while he played the inside part, because it would be too recognizable that you didn't fit in. You agreed, and now you're here. You wish you had argued against it. The boredom eats at you.

But now you're here, for what seems like forever.

Another child dies on the screen, and you prepare your voice to introduce the file and talk to everyone the way you're expected to.

You can't even remember why.

You're not sure if she'll forgive you.

You lean into the microphone and draw in a breath.

~

"Hey, it's really a shame, isn't it, Arata-chan?"

"What do you want, and I told you that you're not allowed to call me that."

"She's probably talking about how things turned out, y'know? It wasn't exactly the best turn of events."

"Really? I think things turned out great!"

The crowd of people seated at a tea table together jumped. The airy environment seemed to turn frigid.

"What are you doing here?" Miyano asked, with Shiroju taking a defensive stance behind her. Many of the others seemed to share the same apprehension.

"Huh? Isn't that obvious! I died! This is the afterlife, isn't it?" Matsuda grinned.

"You caught on quickly." Shibou commented, with no clear negative or positive intonation.

"Man, you guys have no idea how confused I was when I first showed up!" Kaisui laughed from the background, sitting next to the still tense Shiroju.

"You seem to have some idea what's going on then, Matsuda," Soushin jeered. "So what is this, little miss mastermind, our own personal purgatory? I don't see anyone else here."

"I actually have no idea!" Matsuda laughed loudly. "What, did you think _I_ set this up? My specialty is theoretical physicals, not the supernatural! There is a difference, you know."

"Well, excuuuse us for offending you." Hensou said. "Don't you want an explanation too?"

"Hm, not really! I wasn't planning on getting past that point, so I don't really care anymore!"

"But this is a second chance!" Kawada exclaimed.

"An eternal paradise where we've regained all of our memories and can pursue whatever achievements we didn't reach while still alive." Otsuka said. "That's what would be called heaven, or utopia."

"Sure, you can call it heaven or paradise if you like, but only when Shibou isn't around." Keina leaned back where xe was sitting, yawning a bit. "Hey, let's not start any drama though. We were having enough of a time before that bitch showed up, right?"

"Yeah, I'm worried about Aji-chan." Miyano mumbled. "Is she going to be okay? Matsuda, you've seen the future, do you know?"

"Are you seriously asking me _again_? Like I'd care enough to jump and find out? I'm amazed at how well you know me."

"There is no reason to be so rude about it." Odori said. "Are you not worried about Ajiyama-san as well?"

"Of course she isn't." Shiroju replied. "You know how heartless she is! She set up this whole thing!"

"Hey, don't get riled up now." Emiline said, on the opposite side of Shiroju from Kaisui. "There's no way out of this. If animosity starts brewing between us we'll all have to live with it. You wouldn't want to make things unpleasant, would you?

He seemed to listen to her, and settled down some.

"So this is what you all have been doing for three weeks now?" Matsuda teased. "Having tea parties in the clouds while you watch more people die and show up?"

"Basically." Oshima answered, not catching the mocking tone.

"She's making fun of us, Yutaka." Hensou said, looking up to see Oshima's face from where he was seated in his lap.

"Oh,"

"Don't worry about it." Kawada patted his arm from the side.

"Oh, blargh," Matsuda faked a gag. "Oh yes! Let's everyone all be friends and love each other! That sounds entertaining! I'm sure everyone will enjoy that a lot!"

"You're just bitter because nobody likes you." Shibou said.

"You're one to talk." Keina muffled a laugh, making it end up sounding like a snort as xe leaned on Odori.

"But plenty of people like me!" Matsuda argued. "Especially my dear best friend Kwang-Sun! Maybe he and his group will show up soon, who knows, they could be just over the next hill made out of fluffy clouds! You know what? I'm sure you all would actually like that, since I'd stop bothering with all of you."

"You mean bothering, Hana dear, not bothering with." Emiline corrected with a smile.

"Yeah, sure, whatever." Matsuda sighed. "I'm not even sure why I'm still talking to all of you. Where's that thingy you watched us with? I have a channel I want to check up on."

"Sorry, we don't get BBC." Miyano smirked.

"Guess I'll find it myself, then! See ya, losers!" Matsuda turned and waved, walking off into a fog of clouds.

"Well she's gone." Otsuka said. "What next?"

"I have board games!" Kaisui offered.

THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe it's over. Upcoming is an author's note chapter, but sadly no freetime events or unused executions. I didn't plan ahead, so they don't exist really. I'm glad all of you could go through this adventure with me! See you all in Undersea Illusion!


	35. Afterword

Well, almost two years in the making, Forest Nightmare has finally reached its completion. When I first started this project, I expected it to take a year at most, and to write just one story and be done. The plot was a lot simpler back then, for one thing, but now, almost two years after that fateful day, and with four more complete stories ahead of us (I like to mimic Douglass Adams and call it a five part trilogy because of the structuring), the first installment has reached its closed. First and foremost I'd like to thank everyone who has read the story, whether you stopped after the prologue and aren't even seeing this, if you joined at the start, or anywhere along the way. Knowing that people are able to enjoy the writing that I produce is a large motivator. Special thanks to those who left kudos or comments! Those kept me going whenever I thought I wanted to give the story up. It's been a long journey, and I'm glad so many people have been here for it.

It's sometimes hard to believe that I've actually published an entire story. Though it was difficult at times to stay motivated, and even more so when I was trying to decide what to write (Once I had a weeks long writing block broken by the first line of Keina's execution, "Western music plays gently in the background," if you don't remember), I've never regretted a single moment spent working on this project. Because of it I've met some wonderful people I'm lucky to call my friends, and I feel like I've really grown as a writer and illustrator. Forest Nightmare, and the BioN series in general has become a huge part of my life, and I can't imagine living without it. Maybe that's a subconscious reason as to why I decided on writing four sequels.

With thanks and reflection out of the way, I'd like to talk a little bit about my plans for the future of the BioN series. At this moment I am steaming through to try and study for exams while still keeping up a semi-regular writing schedule for Undersea Illusion, but once I hit the summer I'm sure things will be easier. I am sad to say that for Forest Nightmare, there will not be any unused executions or free time events. The reason for this is because I never planned either of those things out in advance, so at this point it would be extra writing for a finished story when I could be pumping out completely new material instead. However, this doesn't mean that this sort of content will never be released. Whereas I have no currently plans for writing executions for all of our favorite innocent characters, or not so innocent like Otsuka, I do have a large project in mind. Over the summer I hope to be able to code a visual novel game somewhat like the "School Mode" for the original Dangan Ronpa, or "Island Mode" for Super Dangan Ronpa 2. To myself I've been referring to it as "Forest Mode". In this game you will be able to play as either Masuyo or Tsuneo, and complete freetime events with your favorite characters. It's a large undertaking, but it won't be anywhere near as complex as the actual game versions.

In the meantime, while we wait for my game developing skills to improve, I will still be working on Undersea Illusion, the second installment of the series. The first chapter of Daily Life should be up some time after I post this afterword, and then it will all go downhill from there. If you liked this story, I highly recommend it. There will be a bit more substance to the trials, and I'm going to try to be more interactive in that one too. There's a lot to look forward to.

I hoping that at the same time as I am updating Undersea Illusion, I will be able to work on the third part of the series, titled Desert Deception. Those two along with Forest Nightmare create the main trilogy of the series, and can be read in any order, so it makes sense that they all be available around the same time I think. It's a lot of writing to do though, so bear with me and be patient.

I'm not sure if anyone will actually want to read a boring Author's Afterword, but if you are, I'd like to thank you for that. I hope that all of my plans are as exciting to you as they are to me, because more than anything I want to give back to the fans I have. You all keep me going. When I spilled grape juice and ruined my tablet in the middle of drawing Oshima's death scene, when I spent hours upon hours replaying the chapter six investigations in both games to make sure I could get the same feel, when I had to follow through with my plans and kill off even my own faves, the fact that people were going to enjoy the end result, or maybe just despair because of it, is what kept me from giving up. I'm honestly afraid I'm gonna make myself cry while typing this. Thank you all, again and again. You all are creative and generous and amazing and I wouldn't have made it this far without you. The scene in the afterlife was a bit of my gift to you guys, but I still feel like it wasn't enough. Nothing could show how grateful I am. Thank you.

Please continue being so great and reading stories, not even just my own! There are plenty of other stories, oc killing game or otherwise, that deserve your praise just as much. And if it interests you, then write your own! When I'm having a hard time with writing my own stories, I often go and read other fan killing games, and I'm beginning to run out. It takes a lot less time to read something than it does to write it, I've learned. Whatever you do, don't stop creating. Do what inspires you, what motivates you. I believe in all of you, and I know you can make something great enough that it will surpass anything before. Don't let yourself down because of fear of standing out. It only takes one impulse move to create 16 ocs and smash them together until they die, I know from experience.

If you want to keep up with updates or art that I've been doing, you can check out my art blog, [Oclarina](oclarina.tumblr.com). I'm still cleaning it up, but once I finish that it should be a hub for news on Believe it or Not, as well as any other projects or art.

Lastly, once again, I'd like to say thank you. Here's to the next couple of years of killing games. I hope you all stick with me.

-Oclarina

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Fangan Ronpa: The Breaths of Life](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8590261) by [FluxYggdrasil](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FluxYggdrasil/pseuds/FluxYggdrasil)




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